Beauty and the Beast

Surely March is too late for a panto, I hear you say, but “Oh no it isn’t” replied the audience for Beauty and the Beast with great enthusiasm, as they roared with laughter at this latest offering from the prolific pen of Ian Clark. He has taken the traditional French tale of “La Belle et la Bête,” stirred in a lot of traditional panto ingredients – owing more than a little to Cinderella - and strongly resisted any urge to add more than the slightest hint of Disney.

We received a very warm welcome on arrival at the comfortable Rowlands Castle Parish Hall and, when the curtains went back, we were greeted by a simple but good quality set, making use of some excellent printed backcloths. Props too were great, and I particularly loved the tiny horse and carriage going across the stage! Lighting (Richard Wort) was very effective, and the sound (Keith Dulake) was good too. Music was a mixture of backing tracks and live music (Ruth Priestly), which all sounded just right and never dominated the singers even though they weren’t mic’d. Costumes (Johanna Whatmore) were appropriate and of good quality, especially for the Beast. Good makeup and wigs (by students of South Downs College) completed the colourful picture.

Leading the cast as Belle was Hannah Evans, every inch the beautiful heroine with a kind heart that we wanted to cheer on. A gorgeous singing voice too. Lee Hunt as Prince Antoine/The Beast was a good match, so that you could easily see how the inevitable love story would play out. Kate Peters was magnificent as their arch enemy, the Enchantress. Dressed in a fabulous costume she oozed cunning and devilment, aided by her two cohorts Slither the Serpent (Joshua Lumley) and Drago the Dragon (Tom Hunt) both showing great confidence and stage presence.

You can’t have a panto without a Dame and Craig Eves filled that role admirably as Dame Dilly Daydream, with a wonderful variety of costumes and wigs and such a splendid gift of repartee with the audience that I assumed he was an old hand at it. It was a surprise to learn later that this was his first time – well done Craig, you’re a natural! Ryan Richards filled the role of Dilly’s son Danny Daydream well – the voice of reason to her craziness.

In the smaller roles, I particularly loved the bickering “ugly sisters” Berenice and Bernadine (Kelly Eastland and Kelly Hewitt), the dozy fools Burly and Surly (Tricia Roberts and Hilary Glanville) and Sophie Dulake as Mrs Potts – always interesting to watch on stage with such natural reactions.

It was great to see members of the South Downe Stage School taking part and shining. Some were used as narrators to move the story along, showing great confidence.

The standard of singing throughout was very good, as you’d expect with MD Lou Bundy, and the well-executed choreography (Sophie Dulake) showed just what magic can be achieved on a small stage.

My only slight criticism was that both acts were a little too long, testing the endurance of the younger audience members. I felt that you could have taken advantage of the apron and set some scenes in front of the curtain, to cover the longer set changes.

Thank you Curtain Up! for giving us a wonderful evening’s entertainment - a colourful riot of song and laughter.

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