Yum-Yum - “You’re not going to kiss me before all these people?”
Ko-Ko - “Well, that was the idea”
Yum-Yum - (aside to Peep-Bo)“It seems odd, doesn’t it?”
Again, this natural speech is to make the plot easier to understand and it also moves quickly and makes the characters real and natural.
- A lot of the music numbers that are sung use unnatural speech patterns, to give the operetta an interesting side to it. It causes audience members to think twice about what they had just heard the actor/actress sing.
Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing-
“I think you ought to recollect
You cannot show too much respect
Towards the highly titled few;
But nobody does, and why should you?”
The girls are trying to apologise to Pooh-Bah because they embarrassed him earlier on in the production. They try to explain to Pooh-Bah why he shouldn’t be angry with them. This is unnatural because, normally, one would just say sorry whereas they are explaining themselves.
Use of heightened or poetic language
- The Mikado is an Operetta. In operas, most of the dialogue that is sung is poetic. In The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan have rhymed every musical number. This makes the songs more exciting and effective. Especially in the finale in act two. The lyrics are not only rhymed, but repeated, which makes it even more exciting for the audience because this gives them a chance to either sing along or mouth the words along to it,
Pitti - “For he’s gone and married Yum-Yum--”
All – “Yum-Yum!”
Pitti – “Your anger pray bury
For all will be merry,
I think you had better succumb--”
All – “Cumb—cumb!”
Use of metaphors
- Metaphor - A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison.
Nanki-Poo-“With a yeo heave ho, for the wind is free”
- This language makes the text exciting. The wind cannot literally be free, so this leaves the audience’s imagination to think what they like about it.
Use of questions
- There is a fair amount of use of questions in The Mikado. Few are rhetorical, or aimed at whoever is saying it. At the start of the operetta, questions are asked because Nanki-Poo wishes to know the whereabouts of Ko-Ko.
Nanki-Poo- “Where a maiden dwelleth
Named Yum-Yum, the ward of Ko-Ko”
- This makes the speech more interesting and exciting for the audience, because they want to know the same answers that the characters do. In this case, they would like to know where Ko-Ko, to see him for the first time, for both their benefit and Nanki-Poo’s.
- Also, when Katisha sings her solo about how lonely she is, she asks a few rhetorical questions, this emphasises her sadness.
Katisha – “Dost thou stay on?
May not a cheated maiden die?”
Use of dialect
- There is use of Japanese language in the Mikado. This is because it is set in Japan, and the characters are also Japanese. The costume and the set arouse the audience’s imagination and minds, but the Japanese dialect also does the same effect. In this case, there is no actual Japanese spoken, just stereotypical Japanese language,
“Miya Sama Miya Sama”
Also, Gilbert and Sullivan made up a name for the stereotypical Japanese sword; they call it a ‘Snickersnee.’ When Katisha is trying to reveal Nanki-Poo’s true identity, the whole chorus interrupt by singing Japanese words to drown her voice,
“O ni! Bikkuri shakkuri to! Oya! Oya!”
Use of pauses, lengths of sentences and the type of vocabulary used
- The lengths of the sentences do change throughout the play. This depends on the disposition of the moment. At quick paced moments, the sentences shorten. E.g. When Nanki-Poo wants to be beheaded. This issue creates tension in the theatre, so the sentences are very short.
Nanki Poo-“Very well, then behead me”
Ko-Ko- “What, now?”
Nanki Poo-“Certainly; at once”
Pooh-Bah-“Chop it off! Chop it off!”
- Some sentences are longer reversing the effect. The longer sentences indicate prolonged moments of the play. E.g. Immediately after Ko-Ko declares his love to Katisha. He says a grand speech, trying to woo her,
Ko-Ko- “But the fire will not be smothered—it defies all attempts at extinction, and breaking forth, all of the more eagerly for its long restraint, it declares itself in words that will not be weighed—that cannot be schooled—that should not be too severely criticised.”
Use of sub-text
- There is a lot of subtext in the Mikado. The effect this has on the audience makes them think about more than just the main plot. E.g. Katisha is in love with Nanki-Poo, and when Ko-Ko declares his love for her, he actually does not mean it because he is repulsed by her very presence:
Ko-Ko-“I dare not hope for your love—but I will not live without it.”
This is amusing because Katisha thinks that he means he will die without her love where in fact Ko-Ko will die if he does not marry her.
Use of Characteristic phrases or words
- Some characters have phrases or words that they repeat often. These are here so that the audience can associate the words to the character. For example, Ko-Ko’s song about who he wants executed, he repeats the words,
Ko-Ko – “I’ve got a little list, I’ve got a little list”
- The Mikado had a similar constructed phrase that he repeated during his song about letting the punishment fit the crime,
Mikado - “To let the punishment fit the crime—
The punishment fit the crime.”
