Cinderella

The first dilemma for any pantomime is to sort out the genders.  Is the dame played by a man or a woman?  Is the hero played by a girl (the Victorian “breeches boy”)?  The Performing Arts Company production went for a male Prince Charming, in the dashing form of Kyron Hamilton, but with the men of the royal household, Dandini and Chambers (a sort of major domo), played by Natasha and Hayley Cope respectively.  As I’ve written elsewhere, Cinderella doesn’t have a conventional dame.  Instead we have the wicked but incompetent ugly sisters, but still, in this production, played by chaps.  The next dilemma is the ugly sisters’ voices.  Simon Virgo kept to a relatively low pitch, majoring in pursed-lipped nasal condescension.  Ben Smart used a full and amazingly consistent falsetto for both speaking and singing.  The contrast helped them to develop individual characters and added to the comedy, which built during the course of the evening as the audience warmed to the production.  Their mother - Cinderella’s stepmother - was played by Cathy Pearce, who wowed the audience with an all-too-brief performance of Big Spender.

Poppy George made a sweet Cinderella, supported (possibly yearned-for) by Owen Hawes as Buttons.  This was a difficult role.  On the one hand he’s terminally shy in trying to approach Cinderella, and on the other he’s the ebullient communicator with the audience.  Hawes managed both personalities effectively, despite the script making him shift from one to the other at breakneck speed.  Lizzie Diaper made a good Fairy Godmother, with an excellent line in knowing winks to the audience when she came on in her old lady disguise.

In addition to Lewis Philpott as the put-upon Baron, the other principal characters were a couple of builders and a pantomime horse.  Mollie Lee and Paige Ottaway played Bodget and Leggett, the supposed builders with a brief to dispossess the Baron.  They were a lot of fun, but possibly needed to slow down a bit to put across more of their jokes.  As it was, the physical comedy went down well with the younger elements and would be perfect for a matinee audience.  Rebecca Philpott and Faye Antenay did some excellent hoofing as Hagan the Horse - the difficulty of tap-dancing whilst bent double in a heavy costume should not be underestimated.

A Performing Arts Company production would not be the same without a lot of singing and dancing.  The junior chorus was put through its paces with Bodget and Leggett and as woodland critters.  The senior chorus sang and danced through a wide variety of material in a range of styles - I was particularly taken with the disciplined movement in Drummer Boy, a combination of march and hip-hop.  Amongst some excellent voices, I was pleasantly surprised by Natasha Cope whose singing voice was richer than I had expected.

The wardrobe department went to town for the final walk-down.  Normally it’s just the romantic leads who change into wedding gear; in this case the whole company was decked-out in shiny silver fabric (if there’s a shortage in the region, this is why).

An entertaining pantomime with something for everyone.

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