Beauty and the Beast

It was a cold but dry wintry night so what better than to sit and watch Portishead players present Beauty and the Beast. As it said on the programme cover ‘a traditional pantomime’, and that was a great description.  Alan P Frayn is well known as a respected author of pantomimes and you very wisely used one of his scripts. His Beauty and the Beast was new to me and made be realise just how good he is.  This production demonstrated many of the pantomime elements whilst keeping intact the story of Beauty and the Beast. Many companies are distracted by the well known Disney production, and cannot see beyond its music and characters. But knowing the strict licensing rules by Disney, your directors wisely stood back took a fresh look and therefore didn’t run any risk of copyright infringement and at the same time produced a ‘cracking’ show, which was enjoyable for all, from aged 2-92!

Within the limitations of the stage and budget, Portishead Players are well known for producing excellent sets and costumes and this was no exception.  The use of the pterodactyls (periactoids) worked well and the back cloths set scenes nicely. The use of tabs aided scene changing and although drab in colour, pace was maintained and the colourful costumes helped with the flow of the story. This was also helped by the interventions of Flora and Belladonna… well matched and entertaining. The music was good and the songs were carefully chosen to fit the story and the cast ability.  It was good to hear music that could be sung by a full company, so often modern tunes don’t survive the switch to group singing very well.

 Among the principals there were some outstanding performances, although everyone performed to a very high standard. Tony Sutcliff might never have played a woman before, but he was a natural and took to it - just like a dame in pantomime should! The beast played by Simon Hillman was a triumph of singing, acting and ‘costume’ His beast  costume was one of the best I have seen, congratulations to  Wardrobe Mistress Glynis Aldred, not just for the beasts outfit, but for the many others…so colourful and the finale to Act 1 was a riot of colour.          A beautiful and sweetly sung Belle, Becky Townsend, complemented her Beast and her Prince. Lazy Jacques’ in a very different persona than I have seen him before looked very good and had a nice approach to the audience, but be careful not to slow proceedings down with slow cue pick up, it feels dramatic, but the pace drops.  Add in a lovely performance from Chris Gribble as Gustave, handsome, entertaining and beautifully arrogant! But the evening’s ‘stars’ were the terrible twosome. So funny, so quick witted and so Bristolian…I loved them. Esmeralda and Ermengarde congratulations, you made me lol… Laugh out loud! (Jess Luce and Caroline Edwards)

Congratulations to Janet and Karley.  Directing pantomime may be very new to you both,  but rest assured it was a complete success.  You cracked fine family entertainment… nothing was too long…the behind you’s etc, the songs, the funny jokes, and the clever beauty salon scene, all very well directed.

Well done to the whole company, back stage, front stage and production, on an entertaining and successful production. We really enjoyed our evening. 

Thank you for inviting us to share your after show party, it was lovely to meet so many of the cast and team and to enjoy the presentations.

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