For Puck's Sake: It's a Fairytale

As the title suggests, this was a very adult version of TADS family pantomime, centering round a school for fairies, run by the charming Wilma, and infiltrated by a couple of nasty goblins!  Needless to say the good fairies won out in the end.

The set was good, and worked well for the cast, who used the stage to its full advantage.  There were some very naughty props, and some slight amendments to the costumes to make them a little more adult!  But all very colourful.

Sound was good throughout, and I liked the use of music, it suited the cast and the different more adult vibe.

There were some excellent lighting effects, I particularly liked the night time lighting in the fairy laboratory, and the swirls around Puck and Fanny when they took the potion – nicely creative and interesting.

The opening was good, and Janet Bray gave the Librarian a very saucy delivery.

Richard Chatterley reprised his role as the Dame, and whilst he maintained the rather gentle persona, he also allowed himself to take advantage of what would be a more rambunctious audience, with plenty of sass and innuendo.

I liked that not a lot of what could be termed as swear words were used – yes, it was very full on, but not offensive.

The two Misses – who turned out to be Goblins were well-played by Jane Murdoch and Michelle Chamberlain, we enjoyed booing them, and they got their come-uppance in the end. 

Emma Lidford was a charming Fanny, not as ribald as some of the other characters, which suited her and gave us a different dimension to the piece.

Rachel Price gave her all to Puck, she always creates a super character, and this was no exception, and no doubt she would have kept any hecklers under control!  I enjoyed Puck and Fanny’s song, it was well-performed.

A new addition to the cast was Callum Aird as Tinks.  He looked really good in his green and red costume, making use of his bells.  Also making a first appearance was Chris Hopkins as Toots the Tooth Fairy, very fetching in his white dress and orange wig – he also looked good, I enjoyed his performance.

Michelle Stanton played Sugar well, eating her way through the production, some good analogies for the cream etc.

Charlotte Taylor gave us a very formal Mallie, again a contrast to the other characters.

Arthur Brain was an addition to the original cast, played by Jack Glendenning.  He didn’t have too much to say, but achieved the dumbness required.  Which was amusing.

Emily Venn, Sophie Venn and Emily Rust were the three fairies - Merry, Flora and Fauna – they interacted well with the rest of the cast.

Julie Walton and Steve Loczy played a very good scene as the two fairytale characters banned from fairyland, I liked their portrayals and thought they both acted and sung well, with lots of innuendo and sauciness.

Overall a fun evening, we laughed a lot, with a good finale – I liked the concept of each fairy character being granted their ‘wands’ and assigned to their relevant fairytales, it was imaginative and a good end.

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