Goldilocks and The Three Bears

So, LBDG return to their natural home, The Library Theatre after an absence of almost a year for reasons beyond their control. Welcome home! And not only that we have their first pantomime since Jan 2020. And it returns in some style, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a Panto written in 2008 by local authors, Damien Trasler, David Lovesey and Steve Clark and fifty percent of the cast of eighteen were treading the Library Theatre boards for the first time, including both our heroine, Goldilocks and the principal boy Tom Tom. Amazing when you consider many other groups are just getting back on their feet after the chaos of the last three years.

The plot was very good fun, with a mixture of the traditional story of Goldilocks, eating the bears porridge etc., but it also centred around a dastardly Queen Bee with a plot to swap the Bears honey for some hypno Honey to make the Bears help the Queen Bee in her bid for to take over the village if not the world. It was certainly different and delightfully refreshing.

The set, stage managed by Jo Taylor and her crew of Steven Cotton, Phil Murray, Rod Taylor, Bob Kempster and Louise Evans was a traditional set of hired in, rather splendid backcloths depicting, the village, a woodland and the bears den of course. With lightning, with some very colourful washes, and sound in the hands of LBDG stalwarts, Dave Miles and Tom Davis we settled down to an afternoon of splendid entertainment with all systems running very smoothly indeed.

Another very experienced LBDG stalwart, Paul Daggett was our MD and had put together a very entertaining quartet of himself on Keys, Pete Bellamy on bass guitar, Luke Elwood on Guitar and Joe Kaye on drums and opening with an instrumental of Honey, Honey by ABBA.  Perfect job boys!

Director Kim Aquilar had certainly cast this extremely well.  Chloe Nixon, a professionally trained actress who recently worked in the USA for the Walt Disney corporation was the perfect Goldilocks and wore the part like a glove, with an infectious smile throughout her performance. It would have been hard to find a better Goldilocks. And then along came another splendid newcomer, Charmaine White as our principal boy Tom-Tom, with all the ‘thigh slapping’ qualities need to carry off the part. And that she did in spades. These two complimented each other perfectly.

Our three Bears, Ben Dards as Daddy Bear, Debbie Kaye as Mummy Bear and Dee Deneham as Baby Bear, partly due to some splendid makeup and costumes (both uncredited?) were in my opinion rather quaint and cuddly. They certainly weren’t going to frighten anybody even after eating the hypo honey, Great stuff, loved it!

Our Dame, Auntie Septic (what a wonderful name!) was played with some aplomb by Tony White in his third appearance as the LBDG panto dame. Wonderfully outlandish costumes of course and all his experience showing through. Perhaps the jokes about being fat could have gone as Tony’s slight build didn’t really fit that part of the script. And his sidekick Buttons character, the dim-witted Ray, played by another newcomer and professionally trained actor, who has had his own show at the Edinburgh Fringe, Henry Esdon. From where do LBDG keep getting all these new excellent actors?!!

Then we come to our baddy, Maggie Moulds as the Queen Bee, who established her credentials early, bossing her little hive and was appropriately booed at all appearances. And apart from a thoroughly good acting performance she had the best singing voice in the ensemble. I would definitely like to see her in a full-on musical. Her two sidekicks (although 3 are listed in programme), Heather Brodie-Shaw (Penelobee), Corina Brodie (Barnabee), and Judy Oxtoby (Buzzbee) had some fabulous expression on their faces and buzzed around the stage in some superb costumes complete with fantastic wings. The really nice piece of icing on the cake was Jan Murray as the interloper, Kevin the Wasp, buzzing around not really welcome at the hive. Again the costume and makeup, especially the circle round her eye were top draw.

And last but by no means least we had our two woodman John Stone as Choppit and Colin Aldous as Splinter.  Splendid fellows who kept us abreast of the story, and I’ve only got one thing to say to them – ‘chop, chop, chop!!’

And all this was backed up with a lovely chorus of Sophie Dean, Megan Groves,, Abi Casterton and Ellie-Mae Woodstock, splendid job ladies.

Bearing in mind LBDG’s annual pantomime is no one weekend show, this is fourteen performances over three weekends, including two Thursdays, three Fridays and three shows on each of the three Saturdays. Now that is hard work, I know, I’ve been in a show with three show in one day, its exhausting! So, I pay tribute to LBDG for doing such a splendid run and we saw it on the Saturday afternoon matinee with an evening performance still to do and it appears they can still pack out the auditorium with the good citizens of Leighton Buzzard for that long run.  Not many amateur groups can do that!

So, congratulations to Kim Aguilar and her cast and crew on a very well directed pantomime, we may have had to wait three years but you are certainly back with a bang!

And finally, many thanks to Barbara Springthorpe, you were an amazing host as usual!

 

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