A Sleeping Beauty

This was my third pantomime at Woodlands Hall.  As always, my guest and I were enchanted by the young people from the Marion Lane School of Theatre Dance, especially the younger members of the group.  Last year, as a group, the young people from this Society were nominated for an award at the NODA North Performance Awards and they did not disappoint this time around.

This version of the pantomime was deliberately called A Sleeping Beauty to differentiate it from other productions with a similar name.  It was a modern twist on the classic tale, written and directed by Gareth Graham, in which the good guys spent their time trying to prevent the Princess from getting her finger pricked, which they managed to do.  Ashley Waugh made a comely Princess Penny and Adam Waugh was something of a “Jack the Lad” Prince Victor.  Malcolm Alderson was the larger-than-life dame, Pauline Pumbles, with Kirsten Dupree and Chantel Dupree playing his children, Patrick and Patricia, respectively.  The two girls have very pleasing voices, especially when they sing together.

Sarah Healy played Gruffles, an addition to the usual cast of characters in the form of a dung beetle!  She played the part well and, despite an intentionally unappetising appearance, brought a lot of humour to it.

As before, I found I did not know the majority of the songs which were either original or, if not, came from obscure sources.  A trio of fairies, Fairy Liquid, Fairy Lights and Fairy Bitter were played amusingly by Pamela Alderson, Caroline Dowse and Ruth Rochester respectively.  Fairy Bitter lived up to her name, being something of a sour old … person; however, the other two made up for her in the cheerfulness stakes.

The company is made up of twenty five adults and fifteen dancers/children.  The singers gave a good account of themselves, especially when given the opportunity to all sing together.  The dancers, as indicated in my opening comments, were charming, especially in their ballet number.  The production was bright, lively, funny, tuneful and had everyone in the audience leaving the auditorium with smiles on their faces.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.