Arthur - The Panto
Information
- Date
- 4th December 2021
- Society
- Clavering Players
- Venue
- Clavering Village Hall, Essex
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Director
- Matt Elliston
- Musical Director
- -
- Choreographer
- Megan Elliston, Rosie Dean, Rachel Betts and Jane Hartley
The annual panto is a much anticipated event in towns and villages up and down the country at this time of year and what better way to bring a community together. The people of Clavering and surrounding areas certainly turned out in force to see this lovely production written by a young member of the society, Megan Elliston, assisted by her father Matt Elliston who was also making his directorial debut. Such enthusiasm for keeping the pantomime tradition alive is a joy to see and long may it continue.
Jean Schofield as Merlin the wise wizard opened the show. Her gentle delivery as the good fairy of the piece gripped the attention of the children in the audience and we were off to a good start. Rachel Betts was obviously enjoying being the evil Morgana. Her scary performance was balanced by just the right amount of comedy. In fact I don’t think anyone was really scared of her and that is how it should be. Here we had two experienced actors and they knew just how to hold the audience’s attention.
This was traditional panto with a female principal boy, in this instance Arthur, very well played by Rosie Deane. His opposite number, in fact the girl next door, was Guinevere played by Megan Elliston. This young lady, by her own admission, is working hard to build her confidence and is to be admired for playing a principal role. Her nerves were obvious at times and her voice a little weak, but I’m sure that in time her determination to succeed will help her overcome these things. Meanwhile this was a very good effort.
A good performance by Clare Fuller as Lancelot and I liked her engagement with the audience. Mark Dymond and Isaac Woor made a good double act as Bulgaria and Turkey and Sir Ector was well played by Jamey Benson.
Every good panto has a Dame and Dan Harwood as Dame Galoris was a very good Dame. He kept us amused every time he came on stage and I lost count of the number of great costumes he wore. A Dame with a sparkly beard is a new one on me but it worked.
A special mention must go to the children who made up the chorus and villagers, with some having named parts. Every one of them looked confident and smiley, coping well with their lines, vocals and the choreography/movement. Very well done to each and every one of them.
The musical accompaniment worked well for the most part although there were some incidences of struggling to get down to the low notes and in one or two cases not getting into the right key! Working with pre-recorded music can have its challenges.
This was a beautifully costumed production with a lot of attention being given to detail. Scenery of mainly painted backdrops was simple but very effective, with the whole being enhanced by good lighting.
This was a very enjoyable production. Thank you for inviting me.
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