Aladdin (Jr)

Simon Dodwell had originally written and performed this script as a Panto for Deben Players several years ago, but this version was slightly shorter and with lots of work re-writing he had adapted it for this Junior show.  It had loads of double entendre, along with all the “It’s behind you” and the laundry scenes that the children love so much. I’m sure they had all been to Pantos and enjoyed this traditional Panto humor and now they had the chance to perform it.  Simon had also found some great songs along with  some good incidental music.

The cast of 28 young people were aged between 8 and 17. This included several new members who had not been on stage before and indeed all who had come forward had been included in the show, so with lots of differing abilities.

These young people really did an amazing job with bags of energy and enthusiasm. There were a couple of stand-out songs including ‘live while we're young’ and ‘5,6,7,8’ which were performed by the  full company.  I’m sure they all thoroughly enjoyed performing these big full chorus numbers and it certainly showed with some good singing and dancing. The choreography had been well devised with simple but effective moves so all the cast were confident in what they were doing. Interestingly all the characters were mixed together in these ensemble numbers, the goodies, the baddies and the funnies all together in one big rendition. It worked!  

There were some good leads from Widow Twanky (Daisy Bird), Aladdin (Maddy Walker), Princess Jasmine (Caera Quigley) and the Emperor (James de Mierre).  Also with good and confident comedy acting from  Wishee Washee (Amelie Dineen) and the trio of Doh Wah  Diddy, Diddy Dum and Diddy Do from Lilly-Rei Pope, Jack Dodwell and Oscar Blackwell. They understood the jokes which were delivered well and with good timing. It is not easy to stand up in front of an audience, to engage with them, encouraging their audience to shout out louder, but they  managed that well.  There was a nice scene with a lovely red dragon and a good comedy scene with a washing machine and wringer.  I’m sure all the cast thoroughly enjoyed putting on this show and it gave them all some confidence going forward in their young lives and gave some of them the desire to perform in future shows.

This was a well put together show from all the team who helped with the direction, singing and choreography. This was complimented with lots of good colorful costumes, sound and lighting. The scenes which had been projected onto a backcloth were very good, it was just a shame with the facilities available in the hall that this was also projected onto the cast standing in front of the cloth.

The cast had been asked which charity they wanted to proceeds of the raffle to go to and Ruby Dodwell suggested the animal charity, The Animal Guyz to Save Uganda’s Pangolins. She was the force behind raising the money as she cares so deeply for endangered animals.  There had been a fabulous amount of prizes and they raised the grand sum of £650 from the two performances.  Well done to all who had contributed to the prizes and bought tickets to help raise such a fabulous amount.

Well done to Simon, Mel and all their cast and crew for such an enjoyable show presented to their very supportive audience.  It was good to see so many of the Deben Players who we normally see on stage, all helping out to produce this show for their Juniors. Thanks also for the warm welcome you all gave to Derek and myself. Much appreciated.

Catherine Dixey.  NODA East,  District 12 Representative

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