Caesar the Panto

It was refreshing to see a panto which was so different from the more usual and well known fairy tale pantos. Set in Rome, the heroic Julius Caesar is horrified when one of his Court Dancers is turned into a flat cut out from an Egyptian frieze and so along with his centurions and other aides sets out to solve the mystery! As in all pantos there were goodies and baddies who were cheered and booed by the audience. Keith Bowden gave a flamboyant performance as the "dame", in this case Sexta Petronia Senna ,modelling some superb costumes while changing his identity in order to try to solve the plot. David Hodgson (Marcus Antonius) also gave a larger than life performance in his pursuit of the glamorous and flirty Cleopatra well played by (Gill Sullivan). There were some good performances too from the junior members of the company particularly Amy Hogg (Lucia Licina) and Joe Burnett (Sweenius Morsius) who both had good singing voices and very clear diction. Other youngsters also played their parts well proving that there are indeed rising stars in this company. Costumes were very eye catching and very much in keeping with the Roman era ranging from glamorous gowns worn by Cleopatras Attendants to striking Centurion outfits and smart Foot Soldiers who I thought were very well drilled. An excellent five piece band kept the show moving along with some very catchy numbers which were sung with gusto by the cast. The whole package for a good panto was there including audience participation, silly jokes and sweeties thrown out to the audience making this an enjoyable and entertaining evening for both those on stage and in the audience . It certainly got me into the Christmas spirit.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.