Cinderella

This panto was written by former member of the group Reece Sibald and it had been suitably adapted for the young cast of performers who were aged between 7 and 15 years. The pace was good throughout, performances were slick and the young people completely committed to their characters. The ensemble sang and moved well and gave good support to the principal cast.

The story started with a very astute Fairy Queen played by Chloe Young allocating special missions to the fairies of her kingdom including Fairy Crystal, portrayed beautifully by Kate Burdon, who was sent to help Cinderella. The Fairy Queen was supported by her not so helpful but very funny assistant played by Rickie Mullen. Eleanor Adamson played the title role of Cinderella; she acted well, had good stage presence and also sang well, she is certainly one to watch for the future. As Cinderella’s best friend Buttons, Anya Siou was bright and cheerful and worked hard at keeping the audience participation going. Elliot Robinson and Caisley Graham as ugly sisters Sheila and Linda were appropriately loud, rude and brash and had colourful makeup and costumes to match their personalities; they made a good team who everyone loved to hate.  As the wicked and oppressive Baroness, Amy McLellan got the audience booing from the onset and was suitably mean to her downtrodden spouse Baron Hardup who was well portrayed by Alexander Rochester. Matthew Wright as the Prince sang and acted confidently making a good partner for Cinderella and he also portrayed a good partnership with his sidekick Dandini played by Cara Moody. Cara came into her own in the scenes with the Ugly Sisters and did a good job of being the object of their pursuit.

The accompaniment was in the capable hands of Chinami Smith on keys and Peter Lynn on percussion and the overall sound quality was good and clear.The crew quickly and quietly moved us from scene to scene.

Congratulations to Julie, Chinami, Viki, Emily and Rowanne for bringing the young cast to a high standard of performance and giving the audience a traditional pantomime and a very enjoyable evening.

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