ALI BABA and the 40 THIEVES

This was another pantomime written by Ben Crocker which seem to becoming very popular at the moment. It was a big challenge for the company with a cast of forty approximately adults and children.

Gabbey Allan and Eirlys Walker opened the show as the Storytellers Cher and Hazard respectively. They both set the mood for the pantomime, and their singing was spot on. Creditable performances from Bethan Purton as Ali and Caitlin Jones as Safiya, who were hero and heroine. Rachel Jones, again gave us another sterling characterisation, this time as Mum Baba, Ali’s Mum, and had an excellent rapport with the audience throughout the performance.

Lydia Newman-Walker is no stranger to this stage and was well cast as Cassim, Ali’s brother together with Amber Wells as Sharon. Nice contribution from Katrina Purton as Huma, Mum Baba’s daughter.

Liam Rogerson revelled in his role as the evil Sheikh Mustafa Leikh. He made the audience sit up and take note, and had them in the palm of his hand from his first entrance. Liam received the reaction a baddie expects from the audience, with the booing and hissing he received. Sheikh Mustafa’s supposed band of 40 thieves had dwindled as they gradually deserted him, until just two were left, Yessah and Nossah - Mustafa’s two side-kicks, and these characters were in the capable hands of Olwen Jones and Zoe Thompson. There was a good contribution from Loonah – Anya Worrall, Noonah – Shauna Brown and Moonah – Cara Rogerson whose ‘Sisters’ went down a treat. I loved the appearance of Kamil – the Camel, full marks to Ben Jones and Daniel Jones for their efforts. Minor roles were well received.

The chorus entered fully into the spirit of the piece, with some very young performers on stage enjoying the art of stage-craft. Costumes were well chosen and in keeping with the period of the pantomime. On the downside, I felt there were some sound issues with mics which affected part of the script, and some youngsters needed to project their voices more. You have a fantastic venue in this Memorial Hall, so more use could have been made of the corners of the stage and I felt it would have been an advantage to play more downstage.

Having said that, it did not mar what was a good performance from this community group, which was proved by the accolade they received from the enthusiastic audience. Thank you so much for the invitation to your panto Amlwch Showstoppers, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to your next production.

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