Frankenstein - The Pantomime

What better Pantomime to perform at Halloween than one featuring a well-known monster, a spooky castle and Count Dracula? Throw in a gaggle of schoolgirls and their head teacher, coupled with a crackpot professor and you have a pantomime that’s bound to raise a giggle.

The story starts at the local Bavarian tavern run by the Pumpernickels who are holding host to the rowdy local villagers. With more than a hint of ‘Les Misérables’ we meet the corrupt, greedy landlord, Herr Pumpernickel (Steve Brown) wearing lieder hosen and his vain wife Frau Pumpernickel (Ann Knott.) Even Heidi (Taya White) their orphan servant girl resembles Cosette dressed in rags and clutching a broom.

Every panto needs its hero and here we have Frank N Stein (Jordanne Sleap) the cheeky servant and Heidi’s best friend. Frankie is our narrator filling us in on the town of Bavaria and its inhabitants especially her mean-spirited employers.

Prince Ludwig arrives accompanied by his trusty manservant, Buckles (Charlotte Richardson) with some disturbing news – evil Count Dracula has returned to the village accompanied by his

grandmother Granula and he wants blood! Heidi summons her trusty guard dog Kodak (a sweet
performance from Eva Kirby-Needham) and, in true panto style summons him with a special whistle (which the audience were encouraged to blow with ear-splitting enthusiasm!)

With a huge explosion, Professor Crackpot (Tony Sutcliffe) arrives who has been trying to create an invention to vanquish the vampires. He uses his ‘hypno gun’ to hypnotise the prince resulting in the running joke of the show.

Next to arrive are a group of naughty St Trinian’s themed schoolgirls (Jules Taylor, Enid King, Lauren Kieran, Chloe Needham and Anne Baker) accompanied by their man-hungry head mistress Miss Nelly (played by Cathy Sutcliffe) who are all trained in ‘etiquette and martial arts.’

Obviously, Heidi is eventually kidnapped by the Count and his grandmother and taken to the castle where the rest of the cast must rescue her from Dracula’s evil clutches with the end game being a lively game of answering questions in the style of TV vintage favourite ‘Blockbusters’.

The schoolgirls all had different personalities which came across well, especially Jules Taylor as man mad Bridget with the hots for Prince Ludwig, Lauren Kieran as the knicker swiping master criminal Agnes and a lovely performance from Chloe Needham as swotty Constance the brains of the group.

A good performance from Stuart Martin as the Count, flapping his cloak and having lots of fun hamming up his role while tormenting the poor children on the front row! I loved his Dracula themed outfit, wig and black lipstick and nail varnish. My favourite scene was him sitting in his bat patterned dressing gown sipping blood with Granula while reading a newspaper.

Taya White was never out of character as put upon damsel in distress Heidi and she used her facial expressions and voice well. Her relationship with Frankie and Kodak was lovely and you really felt sorry for her when she lost Prince Ludwig to the manipulative Bridget. She had a good rapport with the audience as she gained their sympathy and participation.

Scarlett Rymer as the principal boy Ludwig was good as the shy sweet Prince who fell in love with Heidi. I liked her role as the hypnotised Prince Ludwig shouting out ‘knickers’ every time someone said ‘bottom’ and appearing randomly from wardrobes, clocks and behind the curtain each time the word was accidentally spoken.

Cathy Sutcliffe was good as Miss Nelly (although I think the Dallas reference to Miss Ellie went over most people’s heads!) The character is usually played as a panto dame, but Cathy handled the role well assisting the mad professor in the operation scene and keeping charge of her wayward pupils. I loved the way she chased poor Dracula shouting ‘kissy kissy.’

Tony Sutcliffe was on bonkers form as the manically grinning mad professor with his German accent and loony inventions. The ingenious scene where he transformed Frankie into the monster, with the clever use of a white gauze curtain, was well done with good comic timing.

Jordanne Sleap as Frankie created a sweet-natural hero to the show and her transformation into the green monster Frankenstein was very good. She created a very believable character in her winsome rapport with the audience encouraging lots of audience participation.

Special mention to Deb Hulks as Granula who took on the role at short notice and read from the script throughout. Deb was great as Granula with just the right amount of sinister, snarling menacingly at the audience, and even putting in some of her own adlibs. I liked the way she carried her false fangs around in a glittery bag and her interactions with the Count.  Also Eva Kirby-Needham as Kodak the Dog (another last minute cast change) who played her part with dogged determination howling, growing and whimpering perfectly on cue. Well done!

The set was well designed doubling up as Dracula’s castle with lots of secret passages using the stage well. Props and special effects were very good with lots of swirling smoke and flashing lights to create a spooky atmosphere. The ‘Frankie Transformer’ machine was very good with inventive use of plastic tubing and green strobing lights plus a TV monitor which was used also in other scenes to good effect.

Well done to directors Cathy Sutcliffe and Kev Benstead and all the cast and crew for a fun spooky twist on a classic pantomime just in time for Halloween. It was lovely to meet Producer Lesley Wilson and some of the cast after the show.

 

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