Beauty and the Beast

Priory Players presented their annual pantomime to capacity audiences at Ossett Town Hall who enjoyed the funny script, the entertaining performances with a big splash of pantomime magic.   With a wonderfully decorated entrance way and pros arch the hall was a buzz with anticipation.  The traditional tale of Beauty and the Beast was given a twist or two by script writer Alan Frayn as we were taken on a visit to France to meet book loving, dance teaching Belle and all her friends.  The prologue was cleverly staged to set the scene for the story about to be told.  Ash Abbott was lovely as Flora the Fairy doing her best to bring light and laughter to the story.  Unfortunately, she is up against it with the horrid Belladonna (Rebecca Newham) in opposition.  Belladonna is not just the baddy of the piece, but a wicked sorceress keen to have the handsome prince for herself.  Both Abbott and Newham had the poise and presence required of these roles with clear articulation of the rhymes and strong characterisation of the opposing forces.

Set in the village of Franglais-Sur-Mer we are soon acquainted with the inhabitants and learn about their joys and challenges.   The beautiful Belle, Katie Bradshaw, was a confident Principal Girl comfortable with the demanding exchanges with her horrid sisters whilst engaging well with the youth chorus.  Her Act 2 solo (I’ve Been Waiting For You) was great and was enhanced with the participation of the talented dancers.  Belle’s confidence is put to good use dealing with the most despicable Gustav (Thomas Carruthers).  Gustav is definitely not a nice character, but Carruthers’ delivery of ‘Mostly Me’ was very entertaining!  Other villagers included Belle’s dithering father Alphonse (Scott – Colliar Grint) who had the misfortune of having two other daughters Britney and Whitney, wonderfully played by Eliza Keane and Grace Welburn.  Keane and Welburn had the ‘mean girls’ attitude amazingly perfected and worked well with each other whilst baiting poor Belle and anyone else who crossed their path. 

The village is also fortunate to have its own Beauty Salon and two fabulously chavvy beauticians Marcel (Cayden Carter) and Monique (Jess Dickinson) bother of whom were wickedly funny and the Spa Day set in the well decorated Salon was hilarious.  ‘Having a Spa Day’ was a fun number with all performers perfectly in time in this very creative routine in an excellent set.  Ciaran Keddy-Quartermain was a strong Beast, scary enough, but without being truly terrifying.   The audience was able to meet him prior to Belladonna’s wicked curse as Prince Danton (which is unusual in adaptations of this fairytale) so the audience  then  understands what’s at stake and are more invested in him.   His solo ‘This is the Moment’ was one of the highlights of the show for me. There was also a small but effective cameo appearance from Malcolm Trigg as the asylum owner Monsieur Le Fou.

Comedy was aplenty in the show with Paul Tattersfield as Jacques the Silly Billy of the piece.  Never without a joke, particularly on his entrances, Tattersfield engaged the audience with his familiar comedic rapport.  The Pantomime Dame was Madam Fifi (James Bradley) whose raucous persona was also much appreciated by the audience with some loud heckling from the Dame and even louder costume choices. 

Director Gillian Shelton made great use of the youth chorus who sang and danced in many numbers with great confidence and excellent moves – well done to Choreographers, Grace Welburn and Katie Bradshaw.  All the cast looked spectacular in their very effective costumes including a stunning finale so applause is due to the costume team.  There was also great use made of technology including two screens set either side of the stage used to represent the roses and as the magic mirror.  Sound and light were excellent and falling rose petals during the transition was a clever touch.  Alphonse’s entrance across the balcony was cleverly done and a lot of thought had been put into staging the story creatively.  The use of set, additional props and set pieces was excellent.  The stage looked vibrant and along with the colourful costumes it really added to the overall presentation.

The six-piece band provided beautiful music and Joel Griffin had clearly worked hard as singing was strong throughout.  Huge congratulations to everyone involved on stage, backstage, front of house and the Production Team – it was a great evening’s entertainment and is certainly valued in the community with such excellent sales figures in a large venue. 

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