Babes In the Wood

A visit to Forth Dimensions panto.is guaranteed to get me into the Christmas spirit and ‘Babes in the Wood’ certainly did that.

The Wicked Sheriff of Nottingham is plotting to inherit cash left to the orphaned Pippa and Penny by sending them into the woods then to marry Maid Marion. But of course Robin Hood and his Merry Men come to the rescue and they all live happily ever after.

All the ingredients for a successful pantomime were present. The production got off to a great start with Yiorgos Perris (Dangerous Dave Knave) immediately engaging the audience with his beaming smile and lively personality and from then on the audience were totally absorbed responding appropriately with booing, jeering and cheering.

Rachel Bowden looked the part as the thigh slapping Robin Hood while Caty Kerr was a charming Maid Marion with a lovely singing voice. The baddy of the piece, the Sherriff of Nottingham, was ably played by Huw Thomas while Keith Bowden kept it all going with his spontaneous  wit and garish costume. Loved the shoes!

The cast was mostly children and the group of Merry Men, the delightful Pippa and Penny (Holly Whitehead and Sally Mckeever) and the excellent double act Block and Tackle (Fynn Donaldson and Rosie Dean) were all bursting with enthusiasm.

There were some particularly good scenes especially in the school room where the one liners were delivered emphatically receiving great responses, and also in Sherwood Forest where Robin Hood and his men were having a great time and sang enthusiastically. A medley of lively songs throughout enhanced the production.

This was overall a most entertaining  production which had the obligatory audience participation in the finale as they sang and did the actions to ‘Robin Hood with his Band of Men’

A thoroughly enjoyable panto ---- ‘Oh yes it was!‘

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