Alice in Pantoland

Irchester Players have got their 40th Anniversary Year off to a tremendous start with this very original pantomime, “Alice in Pantoland”. The script written by Daniel Wainwright was excellent, very well-crafted, hilariously funny and sported more than a dozen superbly defined characters. The story is based on Alice’s adventures in Wonderland and it had the capacity audience in fits of laughter from start.

The directors, Luke Campbell and Daniel Wainwright have done a remarkable job with the staging of this production it had a good pace which was sustained throughout the performance. Musical director Richard Awdry with his four-piece band gave excellent backing to the company throughout the show. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the 1970’s songs … a lovely touch in their 40th anniversary year! The choreography by Chloe Ellson was excellent and showed great imagination and made good use of the limited space. Well done to all the production team and their assistants for this highly entertaining pantomime.

The principal characters were all very well-cast and there were some truly memorable performances. Emily Spencer played the title role of Alice with all the beauty and charm that the part demands. Daniel Wainwright as the Queen of Hearts was as always the consummate dame -  he has great stage-presence and is a real audience pleaser. Luke Campbell as the King of Clubs gave an outstanding, comic performance. Luke has great timing and his facial expressions were perfect. Julie Haydon gave a very good performance as the evil Dinah and had the audience booing and hissing aplenty. The Ace of Spades and the Ace of Clubs, played by Marc Whitestone and Bobby Mutch worked well together as the likeable baddies. There was a very confidant and expressive performance from Joby Blair as Jack. Alice Dodds was to be commended in her role as the White Rabbit. The Cheshire Cat was played by Megan Hooton and Erin Webb, their 'now you see him now you don’t' performances were brilliant. Tom Spencer gave an outstanding performance that shows much promise as the Mad Hatter. Sarah Liverton and Rita Blackall as Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber also worked very well together. Chris Taylor did very well in his dual roles as the mute, evil henchman Dave and the impeccable voice of the Caterpillar. There were notable performances too from Freya Hollis as the Prison Guard and Tony Woodward as the Commentator. I must mention too performance which I enjoyed very much. The Divas, the Guards and the Courtiers who made up the company and clearly all worked very hard throughout the performance. Well done to you all!

The scenery, sets and props were all excellent and very well-made. The costumes and wigs were amazing … this was visually a very colourful and professional looking production. Well done to all the technical team for creating this. The lighting and sound quality was very good throughout the performance.

Congratulations to all at Irchester Players for this highly entertaining

CAROLINE JERVIS                                                                                                                                      NODA EM DISTRICT 7 REPRESENTATIVE.  

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