Beauty and the Beast

A wet and windy evening, just right for meeting a beast in a palace hidden away in Wuthering Woods. This was not the well-known Disney version of Beauty and the Beast but an interesting adaptation written and directed by Leah Sanders. We had all the elements, a fearsome beast, a beautiful girl, the baddie, talking furniture and villagers and we also had a fairy narrator, a pantomime dame and a Dog called Cat, or was it Cat called Dog with her own side-kick – Boots. To be fair, having had the image of a traditional portrayal of a Beauty and the Beast Pantomime in my head I really grew to like and enjoy this version. 

This was well written and the choice of songs was well matched to the story line, it was a shame that some of the jokes fell flat, but that was more down to timing and the telling of them rather than the writing, well done Leah for a good script.

We had lively and energetic performances from Leah Sanders as Cat (I’m sure she was introduced as a dog called cat, but the programme listed her as Cat) and Anastasia Egan-Welch as Boots, these two really worked well together and kept the show moving along at a good pace, both were and enjoyed there many songs integral to the pantomime element of the show. Ashley Bell was good as Ruby, a good singing voice and confidence on stage as the beauty opposite the beast and baddie Jacques well played by Mia McDonald who gave us powerful vocals with her rendition of ‘Ruby’ and had powerful stage presence. Caitlyn Watkins was a suitable Beast accompanied by the household furniture Callum Wing as the Candelabra, Riannah Thompson as the Teapot, Layla Hutt as the Wardrobe and two French Maids Miley Mathers and Lexi Mai Povey these six gave us a good performance of The Killers song ‘Human’ and Callum did very well with ‘Wilkommen’, both he and Riannah must have aching arms by the end of the run. They also both had excellent, well made and well-fitting costumes, as was Layla’s. We had a nice duet between the Beast and Ruby with ‘All About You’. We also had Archie Stohr as Doctor Doonuffin who we discovered could dance like crazy and Allison Foreman as the Pantomime Dame who performed Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’.

The principals were supported by a small company who provided villagers and a narrator. The singing was enthusiastic, dialogue was clear, do remember to smile when you’re not actively performing. Choreography and movement was generally good with little masking although the village bench seemed a little crowded at times. It was a shame that the cake baking scene bench was set too far back so that the back cloth kept getting moved, the scenery and back cloths were simple but effective, use of props was effective with most scene changes being smooth and hitch free. The company made good use of the forestage and moving in and out of the audience. Sound was good and much effort was put into audience participation right from the start. There was a relatively straight forward and effective lighting plot, I was much please that there had been no resort to Gobo’s and other special lighting effects as this was not required in this pantomime. A special mention to the hard-working costume team who did produce some excellent costumes and colour for the show.

Finally, I think the audience appreciated this show and will no doub look forward to Cinderella next year.

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