Sprung: Dance concert features student choreography and performers in Warner last Saturday night.

“Love is, of all the emotions, the most essential,” states the lovelorn Lady Saphir in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience. This entertainingly humorous and delightful play, performed by the Oberlin Gilbert and Sullivan Players, is a brilliant critique of the superficiality of love and the danger of becoming too enamored with the idea of aestheticism. With its high-energy cast coupled with the stage direction of Beau Mahurin and the musical direction of Van Parker, Patience is sure to meet an enthusiastic response when it opens this weekend.

The opera relays the story of a small kingdom where all of the women are swept away with the idea of beauty and romance, and therefore enamored with Reginald Bunthorne, the one man who seems to exude these rare qualities. This group of young women, who refer to themselves as the “Lovesick Maidens” in the opening number, lament the fact that they are all in love with Reginald, yet he does not seem to be interested in any of them. Instead Reginald has decided that of all of the maidens of the town, he is in love with Patience, the one woman who has no love for him at all. Intent upon winning her affections, Reginald attempts to woo her by relying on his beauty and command of poetic language, yet Patience is unmoved. It appears that Patience is incapable of loving anyone outside of her family, or at least that is what she thinks, until she happens upon the only person that she ever felt adulation for. That person is her former childhood playmate Archibald Grosvenor, who has grown into a beautiful man in full possession of the power of aestheticism. However, because Lady Saphir has convinced Patience that love should be thought of as a duty, she is unable to be with her beloved because to partake in his gifts would be a selfish act. Convinced that her love should be unselfish she decides to accept Reginald’s proposal creating a stir within the town that leads to a re-evaluation of the importance of aesthetically pleasing romance.

With such a fascinating plot, it is hard to go wrong with this production. The leads, sophomore Sheena Ramirez as Patience and first-year Jacob Wolfe Kidder as Reginald Bunthorne, do not disappoint. The performances are solid and the comedic timing is impeccable. Ramirez masterfully embodies the playful spirit of the main character with her vivid facial expressions and powerful voice. The presentation of Ramirez and Kidder is only enhanced by the excellent performances of first-year Ilene Pabon, portraying the self-deprecating Lady Jane, senior Alexander Shepherd as the incredibly funny Duke of Dunstable and first-year Colin Levin as the wonderfully vain Grosvenor.

With their light-hearted and lively rendition of Arthur Sullivan’s score, the orchestra further embodies the mood of the work with their careful attention to the actors onstage. There is even a moment in the play where the cast interacts with the orchestra, displaying their reliance upon each other for the successful execution of the show.

Though Patience will be performed at the Oberlin High School auditorium, a place unfamiliar to many Obies, it is well worth the trek. This Gilbert and Sullivan opera is an intelligent and sarcastic look at the fickleness of love that will keep you laughing, and perhaps give you something to think about on the walk back to campus.