Ali Baba and the forty Thieves

I was delighted to be invited to attend the Mawdesley Amateur Dramatics Society’s 40th Anniversary pantomime “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” which was not only written and directed by Adrian Barradell but he also found the time to play the part of Kassim Baba. The story takes us back to the stories of Scheherazade and the Tales of the Arabian Nights where the plot revolves around Ali Baba a wood cutter from Baghdad played nicely by Jenny Ashby, who is on a quest to claim the reward for finding the hideout of the 40 thieves, who’s leader is Al Rachid played villainously by Chris Hill who had good clear diction with a good rapport with the audience, who booed, hissed and cheered, he did need to take a few prompts which he comically used to his advantage. Al Rachid was more than ably assisted by his thieves played by Patrick Ryan, Molly Rogers, Hayley Gaskell, Lizzie Thomas and Ava Lloyd. The comedy duo  Bridgett Welch as Hanky and Debbie Wells as Panky gave outstanding performances  with very good comic timing, clear diction, and had a good relationship with the audience initiating some lovely responses from the children, the camel was particularly enjoyable. But I do feel the first act would have benefited from a few more musical numbers. However in the second act there was a very good rendition of “For the First Time in Forever” from “Frozen” sung by Emma Meen who played Morgiana Ali Baba’s friend, it was very nice to hear a number of the children in the audience singing along with Emma while Hanky, Panky and the children of the cast treated us to a nice happy rendition of the Bugsy Malone song “You Give a Little Love” in place of a community song. The Dame, Widow Baba played by Mark Wolstenholme was a little underused and the pantomime appeared to miss a Simple Simon or Idol Jack character who gets involved in most of the audience participation comedy along with the Dame. There were a number of other principle roles who produced some entertaining interesting characterisations, and who along with all the rest of the cast worked hard as a team and appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely. Set design fitted the production well and the cave scene was especially striking, well done to all the stage and technical crew. Costumes were effective and were very colourful just what was required and Choreography by Lorraine Ryan fitted the subject matter, was well thought out and executed expertly by the young dancers. This was a very nice afternoon’s entertainment and the audience appeared to enjoy themselves getting into the Christmas spirit.

Well done to Adrian Barradell and all involved who helped to make this production a success. Thank you for inviting me, happy Christmas and I hope to see you at your next production.
 

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