Cinderella and the Velvet Slipper

Well done to this group for their choice of annual pantomime. Cinderella is right up there as a doyen of this genre of theatre. Peter Nuttall’s re-working of the script and characters where Cinderella ends up with Dandini and Prince Charming ends up with - yes, would you believe it - the Town Clerk, is a very funny and very clever piece of writing. The characters in this production also well enacted the requirements of the parts concerned.  

The mixture of songs in the performance was most enjoyable, especially the “Million Dreams” song, the ABBA hit “Take a chance on me” and in particular, I was impressed with Cinderella’s simple but very tuneful opening song “In My Own Little Corner“.

The grumpy King Charming  (Simon Ancell) was exasperated with his son, Prince Charming (Joe Finch), who wanted to be King but was really only interested in his personal appearance and how he was perceived by others. His other son was in fact, Dandini  (Kellie Aylward) with whom he had very little interest and whose name he could not even remember. These three interacted with each other very well. Davina (Dolores Constable) and Georgina (Liz Tobias) well and truly lived up to their titles as the ugly sisters and provided us with plenty of comedy and really corny jokes. Cinderella (Daisy Lord) and Buttons (Carolyn Irving) - the ones that I would call the normal human beings - were well cast in their roles. In this version, Buttons had a mother by the name of Toggles (Jenny Thomson). She was dressed as a witch, claimed not to be one, but worked with spells and potions. A touch of schizophrenia I believe. Twiddle (Kath Leese) was the last person in this and played the part of the Town Clerk. Polly (Sue Duncan) made her annual appearance as the parrot and provided us with more comedy and “groan” jokes.

The hall where this all takes place is very small - it seats 40 + people and the stage is quite small but the ingenuity of the set  builders allows the company to perform plays that need more than one set. Sound is never a problem as the audience is on the same level as the stage and they are not at a great distance. Backing tracks are used for the music - no room for a live musician - but all at the right volume to get a correct match of voices and accompaniment.

Well done, all the team at Lancing - congratulations on a great production.

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