THEY say the show must go on and it certainly did for the cast of Pirates of Penzance at The Courtyard.

An injury to her hand – resulting in a makeshift sling – did not stop Laura Durman reaching those high notes as the beautiful Major General's daughter Mabel.

As my first trip into the world of Gilbert and Sullivan – and opera altogether – I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but I was not disappointed.

The Hereford Gilbert and Sullivan Society has taken one of the best-loved G&S productions to The Courtyard this week for a swashbuckling topsy-turvy adventure.

The show opens as the pirates celebrate Frederic turning 21 and are shocked to discover he doesn’t want to be a pirate anymore. But it turns out he was never supposed to be a pirate at all and his nurse, Ruth – played by Gill Haslam, was supposed to apprentice him to a pilot and misheard the instruction so he instead became a pirate.

After deciding he’ll leave, become an honest man and destroy the pirates he’s left with Ruth who begs him to marry her and – believing her when she tells him she is beautiful because he’s never seen another woman – he agrees.

But soon after, Major General Stanley’s daughters – who are vast in numbers, all beautiful and all wearing colourful hoop skirts – visit the beach. Frederic’s best efforts to get one of them to marry him are fruitless until Mabel appears and agrees to marry him.

The pirates return and claim the daughters as their brides but the Major General appears and tells them a sob story about being an orphan – though he is not – and the pirates let them go.

The second act is all about the laughs, with an outrageously funny performance by the policeman who are recruited to help kill the pirates and a finale which unravels the ultimate fate of the Major General.

As handsome Frederic, Russell Painter was charming and articulate while Alan Durman was excellent as the incredibly posh – ‘orphan or often’ – Major General, pulling off the tongue twisting I am the very model of a modern Major General with total ease.

A talented, energetic cast, well-made costumes bring this endearingly silly story to life, making this one pirate adventure you wouldn’t want to miss.

There's still time to catch it, with performances at 2.30pm and 7.30pm at The Courtyard. Buy tickets here http://www.courtyard.org.uk/events/pirates-of-penzance-g-s-society/