Cinderella

Once again it was a pleasure to be back at The Bradford Playhouse watching The Bradford Players pantomime Cinderella, a show which is always a popular choice for an audience and myself in particular as it was a great favourite of my late mum’s. Without a doubt it remains the best loved of all pantomimes and is such an ideal introduction to theatre for young children.

Tracy Mawson as Fairy Moonglow the Fairy Godmother introduced the show, giving it a magical sparkly beginning as we all settled into our seats for an anticipated enjoyable evening soon to be joined by her sister the Countess “Mother” Malady played by Julie McGovern who had just married her 17th husband Count Harry Hardup played at very short notice by Carl Murray. Unfortunately, Tracy had lost her voice but still went on whilst being dubbed from the pit, still if its good enough for Hollywood’s West Side Story and Natalie Wood then who are we to argue The beginning soon indicated a slightly different and modern slant on the “traditional” Cinderella which at times was an interesting but nice change to see. Bethany Brewer and Hannah Mawson portrayed the roles of Cinderella and Prince Charming respectively with Caoimhe Mawson providing good support as Dandini, in keeping with the traditional pantomime style. All three interacted well but at times a better balance of sound was needed to help the audience hear and understand the new, modern and upbeat numbers that were brought to the production. There were great performances, plenty of humour and great acting throughout by Richard Barran and Garry Darbey as the formidable ugly sisters Priscilla and Prunella - full marks to them! Excellent support came from Julie McGovern as a very edgy Countess “Mother” Malady who completed the evil and nasty trio. Carl Murray took on the role of the bemused and fuddled Count Harry Hardup at very short notice after the original actor became ill, barely looking at the script he gave a strong and confident performance – great job! A star of the show was Cian Mawson whose first time on stage gave a fast paced performance of Buttons – with great stage presence, he created an immediate rapport with the audience and his timing was good too. Not a great lover of pantomime “community” singing he and Anna Garlick who played the Flunky provided a clever tongue twisting number that they performed with such precision that you didn’t really realise what you were singing if you went wrong until you joined in. Clever choice.

The chorus, both junior and senior completed the line-up playing numerous characters which clearly had been well-rehearsed.

An excellent effort was made with the set taking into account the amount of cast on stage and Jonnie Taylor, the Stage Manager and his back stage crew managed the scene changes slickly ensuring the show ran smoothly - well done! The support of good lighting and bright costumes added greatly to the ambience of the show as did the accompaniment of the band led by Musical Director Corey Kilshaw.

The show did have a couple of technical hiccups but that did not spoil the audience’s overall enjoyment of the show. Congratulations to Director Chris Sheard and Choreographer Jeni North on the great staging of such a traditional pantomime with a modern twist, I will never see Spiderman in the same light again - well done on all your hard work.

Finally, I would like to congratulate The Bradford Players on having a “signed” performance, in the safe hands of Katrina MaCachran, which I attended last night. The Players have been doing this for a couple of years now and I applaud them on their inclusivity enabling a wider audience a chance to enjoy amateur theatre.

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