Cinderella

I always enjoy coming to watch a pantomime by The Mendip Players, as they are very different to the average panto that I normally see.  I love that their zanier and sometimes surreal take on the normal fairy tales.  However, this script originally written by Greg Harper and adapted by Allie White, was not as outrageous and out there as I have come to expect from The Mendip Players, but that doesn’t mean it was any less fun.  The script was incredibly funny and particularly amusing was having Kardasian-esque versions of the ugly sisters and a narcissistic Adam Ant like prince and an awful lot of humour came out of these characterisations.  Also good was the inclusion of a female Buttons, which opened up the opportunity for another love story with Dandini.

The sets were mostly made up of flats and backdrops, which helped keep the pace going and the style of these fitted well with the production.  Props were all good and used well, with Cinderella’s carriage looking incredibly impressive.  Presumably this had to enter through the audience due to space restrictions on stage but it actually worked really well and gave the audience the opportunity to have a good close up look at it.

Costumes, make-up and wigs all looked stunning, and worked well together, with no one looking out of place.  The ugly sister’s costumes were good fun and appropriately bright and gaudy and Cinderella’s ball gown was suitably elegant.

The sound for this production was very good, and it was hard to tell if microphones were used or not, either way, you could hear every word and the sound was crystal clear.  Due to the nature of the venue the lighting here is often simple but as usual used well with no obvious issues.

There was a varied quality of singing on display with some confident and entertaining performances. All the singing was done with a good spirit and fitted the fun pantomime atmosphere perfectly.  Backing tracks were used throughout, however as a possible tip for the future you may want to consider using some free software such as ‘Audacity’ and ‘Multiplay’ which could enable you to get a crisper feel to any music editing, especially if you are not intending to play the whole song.

I am always very impressed by the casting choices at The Mendip Players, and this production was no different.  Pretty much everyone embodied their characters incredibly well and managed to get a lot of humour out of them. It was great to see such a large chorus and Junior Chorus for this show, they all performed admirably and complemented the main cast well.   Hannah O’Neill made a very competent Buttons and played the character at just the right level, it is surprising how often I have seen this type of character ruined by overacting, but not here and as the audience liaison she carried the production really well.  The humour really shone out of the roles of Dandini by Alfie Head and King Charming by Jeff Monks, with some good comedy touches.  Bea Cook did a fine job of being the Evil Stepmother, though to counterbalance some of the other more OTT characters it would have been good if she could have been just a little more ‘Evil’ and maybe even a little Hammy.  However, in every production there is always the stand out performers and in this one it had to be Tim Cook and Dan Ward as Listeria and Salmonella and Ash Jones as Prince Charming, these guys really made the most of the strong characters they were given and totally milked every drop of comedy out of them.  They also seemed to be having a great time out there which is always lovely to watch.

Overall this was yet another thoroughly enjoyable performance from The Mendip Players who in my opinion are fast getting a reputation as a ‘must see company’.  This was also easily the best pantomime script I have come across – very clever and very funny.  Well done to you all.

 

 

 

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