Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast written especially for Little Downham Youth Club by Peter Crussell was this year’s choice of panto.  As is often the case with YAU along with the script a few  of the cast were making their stage debut and I have to say they all did very well.  In fact the whole cast knew what they were doing and they did it with quiet confidence and obvious enjoyment.  

Eva Proctor with nice clear diction as the narrator Hattie worked well with the audience and kept us up with the story and/or what was going on.  I very much enjoyed the well delivered and confident performance of Arison Martin as Gary. He worked very well with Evie Bennett who gave a fine performance as Bluebelle.  As the sisters from hell Cowbelle and Dumbelle, Macey Arnold and Tiffany Fuggle were a great pairing. Both giving particularly confident performances.  I loved the character of the unhelpful and undecided Gardener played with an excellent deadpan delivery by Amy Jarvis.  Grace Butcher did well on and off as Mother and Shane Gray as The Beast made the most of his scenes. All principal characters had good projection which is very important for the storyline. 

In the Beast’s castle we had ten other characters all cleverly costumed to match their roles. Amy Jarvis (Gardener) as mentioned above, Chloe Lee (Tea Pot), Emma Thornton (Driver), Bryony Lenton as De-ath the cook and Chloe Hind as her assistant Prentice, Sadie-Grace Martin (Tea Cup), Corben Christofides (Le Plumme), Jessica Smith (Feather Duster), Annabelle Harvey (Clock) and Caitlin Bryant as Butler.   All of them had a line or two and made up a lovely singing ensemble.

The songs were mainly well known and the ensemble singing was very good. Loved In The Gravy! Just one song was pitched slightly too high but everyone coped with the sequenced music well.

I saw the first performance and technically everything worked well.  It was obvious the  cast knew their lines just maybe not quite sure when to say them but overall they all did a good job.  On the staging side I must say the set looked absolutely splendid.  With the limited resources at the venue Carol Hebbard and Becky Smith had done a great imaginative job, with the seemingly floating candles giving it a touch of Harry Potter.  Sound and lighting was once again in the hands of JR Light and Sound and, although I felt sound levels were a bit high in places, everything was, as usual, well handled. All the music and sound effects by Mark A.J. Checkley were on backing tracks and without exception the music and choreography was aptly dealt with by the cast.  Costumes were lovely and colourful, appropriate to character and, more importantly, even on the tiniest of actors, fitted well.

Congratulations to the whole cast, Author Peter Crussell, Producer Carol Hebbard, Director and Choreographer Becky Smith, Coach Beverley Dean and the production team.  

Thank you for the invitation to join you Little Downham Youth Club and for an entertaining afternoon with Beauty, the Beast and Youth Acts UP..

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.