Cinderella

Panto season continued with a trip down the road to Spennymoor Stage and Song and their annual pantomime, this year Cinderella!  Spennymoor always rise to the occasion with fun and frolics under the capable hands of director Liam Etherington and this year without doubt maintained their dominance in District 4 as one of the best groups in the area.

There’s always a lovely heartwarming local feel to their productions with a lovely local fee.  “Defty’s” who support the productions wholeheartedly always getting a shout out, the Mayor being suitable wound up by the Dame, jibes about the local planning authority system to name a few all of which resonated with the largely local supporting audience and a sold out run.

The script (I’m afraid the writer wasn’t identified in the programme to enable me to name them) was clever, well paced and appropriate.

The set was colourful and appropriate, originally constructed and painted by Eric Hickson and featured a moving clock and a spider which frightened the life out of me; lighting provided by Brightstar Light & Sound was excellent assisted by Maurice Edmondston.  Immediately you’re drawn to the bright colour pallets used on stage in the costume and set by Sue Marley and Sue Rogers, the legends of wardrobe themselves.  How they consistently provide such well fitting, appropriate and bright costumes (which also all still looked clean and well pressed) at the end of the run baffles me.  well done! The large ensemble were fully costumes as well as a large children’s ensemble who performed with a gusto and were a joy to watch.

The choreography was extremely well rehearsed and performed by all and originated from Ann-Marie Clayton and Stacey Thompson.  There wasn’t a step out of place and I was very pleased to see Hannah Jackson again as a dancer as her stage presence and presentation is absolutely gorgeous to watch.  Hardship Hall parody scene at the end was well put together and absolutely hilarious.

Director Liam also doubled as Buttons, and his comedic timing was really excellent, keeping the audience well and truly in the palm of his hand, delivering with clear diction and being able to react to the audience catcalling with ease whilst maintaining the energy and humour.  I still haven’t got my tongue around “Buttons – Bob the Bunny’s Being Bothered” I’m afraid!  His sprints around the auditorium were extremely impressive, hotly pursued by Ian Patterson as one of the ugly sisters Gertrude, who in turn was accompanied by David Galloway as Grizelda.  Both were all you want from the traditional pantomime dames, hilarious, dolled up to the eyeballs, with great interactions with cast and audience alike, and doused suitably in glitter.  Both gave incredibly strong performances and their costuming was a sight to behold.  I did especially enjoy “Barbie Girl”

Dan Riches as the Chamberlain was lovely and clear in his diction, with Jayne Etherington making a fine Prince Charming accompanied by Rebekah Newman as Dandini, however I do not envy you two in those beautiful heeled boots as I suspect there were some aching feet by the end of the run.Rhys Bye and Sara Holliday appeared as Leggett and Bodgett respectively and were great in so far as the script allowed, though I do think the writing could have made a little more of these tow characters.  As performers both of them are really excellent so it would have been nice if the script allowed us to see more of them.

Stacey Thompson made an utterly beautiful Cinderella and again her costuming was marvellous.  The ballgown especially.  Ann-Marie Clayton always shines like an utter star on stage no matter what she does, but she certainly had a little more assistance as Fairy G from those amazing light up shoes!  Also supporting was Dean Ranyard as baron Horace Hardup and Heather Whitfield as Baroness Rubella Hardup making up a fantastic cast.

It’s not often you get a live orchestra for panto so it was lovely to see one here under the capable direction of Jill Jackson, and I especially liked their interaction with the cast including Strictly paddles and ongoing banter especially with Buttons.

Star of the show of however was Hogan the Horse and MI5 have nothing on Spennymoor in keeping who was Hogan from me until right to the end despite my valiant attempts to find out in the interval.  Anne & Sue – got you sussed and well done.  There were some very well placed rear kicks from Hogan which has us all in stitches!

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Spennymoor does with “Hello Dolly” their next musical offering in April 2024. 

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