Goldilocks And The Three Bears

We all know the story of Goldilocks And The Three Bears but S.H.A.D.E.S. pantomime had the story with added extra, it was set in a circus which allowed great scope for the sets and costumes. The costumes were lovely and bright - I lost track of just how many wig and costume changes Gertie Dollop (Carole Griffiths) had. The sets were quite elaborate and suited the scenes with some good attention to details, backdrops are not the usual cloth ones but are what looks like printed vinyls - it works well in this space. Pantomimes are always prop heavy especially in the "slapstick" scene - this Panto fell true to form and porridge was messily made by Silly Billy and the Dame which concluded with the audience being squirted with water. There were a lot of children in the audience and at this point they were going wild with excitement. They boo'ed Martin Taylor as the baddie Ringmaster Heinkel every single time he appeared, he relished the challenge and had a throwback answer for every single heckle! 
It was pleasing to see that traditions are still being upheld and adhered to with the "good" entrance side and the "bad " entrance side. Mystic Sharon (Jane Pearson) was the goodie and she had the audience eating out of her hand, she knew exactly how to play the crowd and was very confident in her portrayal.Shewas able to break the fourth wall and interact well with the audience while still maintaining the pace of the tale. Gertie Dollop (Carole Griffiths) and Silly Billy (Tony Cenci) are a very confident and comfortable comedy duo, you know that when they appear you are in very safe hands - although there were a few dropped lines they also kept the pace throughout the show and again the audience loved them and their antics.

Goldilocks was played by Jessica Thornton, she had a pleasant singing voice and interacted well with the rest of the cast - I would just mention though to be a little bit more aware of including the audience and remembering angles when delivering dialogue to someone at the side of you, it is very easy to block yourself without meaning to. Evie Verviers played both Baby Bear and Magical Karen, her dialogue delivery was great, she was very clear even in a full teddy bear head! She used her arms well to express her character- a job very well done.  Mummy Bear played by Jenny Taylor, Daddy Bear by David Green, again I must commend the use of body expression, playing askin character is difficult and although the ears could speak they had no movement at all from their heads or faces yet they managed to convey such a lot with tone and body movements.

The chorus had some simple choreography and gymnastics to do along with singing the vocals, unfortunately it was quite difficult to hear them at times, I'm putting it down to opening night nerves. Each time the appeared they looked fabulous, an awful lot of time , thought and effort had been put into the costumes and it showed, there were also lots of lovely smiling faces in the chorus - always nice to see. 

Thank you S.H.A.D.E.S. for your hospitality. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

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