Cinderella

This piece was another excellent pantomime written and Directed by Polly Snape. I have always liked the evergreen story of Cinderella. The first occurrence of the Cinderella Tale in Europe comes from an Italian named Giambattista Basile in 1634. Today we have many versions of this tale to treasure whether on stage, film, or to read, it is always a pleasure to immerse oneself in the story.

The production by this company brought the story to life. The set was excellent as usual and once again the use of the auditorium maximised. The Pantomime commenced  with a Prologue spoken off stage by the unmistakeable voice of Mike van der Eijk.

The mood soon changed with the arrival of panto favourite Billy, the energetic Dave Snape and soon the Chorus of adults together with many members of Ruthin Youth Theatre taking part appeared. Another Ruthin panto favourite Auntie Gertie, played by Gavyn Pendrey Edwards, had  everyone in the palm of his hand  immediately he entered, delivering his ad lib remarks, and interacting with the audience. So glad to see The Daddies again!      

Sophie Lincoln-Jones was just delightful as Ella, and was partnered well by Hanna Medi Roberts in the role of Prince Charming, who oozed stage presence from her first entrance. Carys Jones as Dandini, Equerry to Prince Charming gave us polished performance together with talented Gwyddfid Spencer as Queen, who I have seen many times on stage. Cat Smith pressed all the right stops as Ma’aa, Ella’s Stepmother, whilst there were wonderful characterisations from Ceri Wyn Jones as Wandalina and Emma Parry cast as Tallulah, Ella’s two frightful and outrageous Step Sisters. These two characters had all the tricks up their sleeves and the audience loved them. Deb Louise absolutely shone in all her glitter as Fairy Godmother and gave that ‘sparkling touch’ to the whole proceedings with lovely singing. There were a lot of one-liners in the piece and each member carried out their task with aplomb.

Chorus was made up of both adults and youth posing as Ladies of the Land, with youth members portraying Mice, Dolls and Heralds. They nearly lifted the roof off with their singing. Choreography was expertly devised and well-rehearsed, so that the whole company performed their steps, hand and arm movements simultaneously.  The transformation to Ella’s coach was cleverly done together with Ella’s change into a stunningly lit ball gown. The ballroom scene was just charming denoting shadows dancing in the ballroom behind. In fact all the sets were stunning from the commencement of the piece to the final walkdown. Costumes were once again out of this world and showed the tremendous amount of time spent on costume research and the finished article. Well Done!!

Congratulations to all concerned and thank you Ruthin Panto Society once again for your invitation, a lovely afternoon spent with an enterprising Company.

This is the opinion of the Reviewer.

 

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