Babes In The Wood

In its pantomime form, ‘Babes in the Wood’ combines two British folktales, one being the legendary ‘Robin Hood’ who is, as you’d expect, accompanied by his throng and the other being the almost forgotten story of ‘The Babes in the Wood’. We only ever hear of the latter in its pantomime form which could be due to its rather grim ending which has since been amended to a happy one throughout its time. To my knowledge, Dick Whittington (based on the accounts of Sir Richard Whittington, the four times mayor of London) and this pantomime are the only ones which are based on actual events, the events for this are said to have occurred across Sherwood Forest (Nottinghamshire) and The Wayland Wood (Norfolk) though there is no evidence that the two tales are linked other than in pantomime.   

The role of Robin Hood is often played by a handsome young man in modern pantomimes, but tradition is alive and kicking in Sale with Jill Mallan taking the heroic role.

Alan A Dale was played with vigour by Richard Ross, my only criticism here is that we didn’t get enough of him.

Ross Douglas as a new Dame for Sale Nomads (Martha Trot) certainly has the potential to become a terrific Dame, he demonstrated many virtuous qualities but it does often take a few attempts to find and nurture this pantomime counterpart, stick with it and you will find/claim your Dame.

Quite privileged compared to other amateur pantomimes is the quantity of musicians here. As those musicians are present, give them plenty to do! It would have aided the overall presentation for them to accompany those dull scene changes with a simple play off to smooth those transitions, also missing was entrance and exit music for the principal characters which would have added to the overall pantomime experience.

Some of the gags were delivered a little too subtle preventing them carrying. They would have been hilarious if they’d been delivered with a bit more punch. 

Josh Moreton was a little star as George showcasing a competent singing voice with clear articulation and grounded stage presence. He certainly melted the hearts of the Mothers and Grans in the audience.

Director and usual Dame for Nomads, Derek Stuart-Cole delivered a balanced script with plenty to entertain the kids and the big kids. The inclusion of recognisable song lyrics thrown into conversation at every available opportunity paid off and were really well received.

One of the key ingredients to Panto is energy, Joel Mallen had enough to share out amongst the entire chorus who seemed to be marking the show for the best part of their time on stage. Some sad reality now - we’ve all played to audience numbers which have been a little bleak and it can be a challenge to drum up enough spark to get you through a panto performance. It’s a shame I attended on what seemed to be an unpopular performance (audience numbers wise) as I sense I didn’t see the show at its strongest.   

Whilst buckets of energy are a big plus, be aware to not throw it away, try to channel it or you risk presenting something which can appear clumsy.

Jenny Hollinshead as Fairy liquid looked terrific, best costume of the night with balls bouncing over her head and a selfie stick wand - terrific! It’s very well and good to put on a voice to convey a character but if it jeopardises articulation and we end up missing a lot of what’s been said as a result, it becomes more of an interference.  It’s the baddies who came out on top for me, The Sherriff played be Roberto Lavorini was spot on as were Anna Sillitoe and Ian Moore as Snatch & Grabbit who had great fun in their roles which is what we needed.

Everything good about previous Nomads pantos was in equal evidence here with costumes, staging and the sets which were all at the standard I’ve come to expect from the fortunate skill set you have among your membership. 

Many congratulations Sale Nomads.  

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