Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Well, this panto was a riot of colour. That was the first impression it made on me, and it was a lasting one. There were so many changes of costume, all were dazzlingly bright. I can imagine my grandchildren having a fine time drawing or painting their impressions of it. The story was of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but not as we know it. Theses bears were performing bears, and they went to join Tilly’s circus, and had all kinds of adventures along the way.

We were given an excellent and informative programme, very well designed with circus tents, three bears, and the acrobat in the hoop on the cover. There were interesting Chair and Director’s notes, and good cast and director profiles, along with rehearsal photos. All the cast were asked ‘if I were a Christmas decoration, I would be a ……….’, which was very jolly.

Lighting and sound were both very effective throughout. There were some dramatic and funny sound effects, for example, the sound of the bears slurping their porridge, the squeaking door, the trumpeting elephant, the firing of the human cannonball. Musical Direction was in the capable hands of Liam Forrester. The four-piece band were situated in the partially screened off right hand corner of the performance area, there was always a good balance of sound between band and voices.

The costumes played a star role in this panto, they were amazingly good. The baddie, Herr du Nacht, was the first person to appear. He was in a startling costume of long green coat with green fairy lights round the lapels, top hat with feathers, and he wielded a mean long circus master’s whip in his gloved hands. Dame Tilly wore a variety of outrageous gowns and wigs in all kinds of lurid colours Her final costume was a tour de force – she strode on dressed perfectly as a (hooped) circus tent! The two clowns, Dibs and Cosmo, wore a yellow or red beret, orange or yellow baggy trousers, and of course marvellous makeup. Goldilocks delighted in her bright yellow frock. The ensemble seemed to have so many marvellous costumes, primary colours, sparkly, with gold hats at one stage. Some wore bright yellow trousers; or black and white or red and white striped tights; there were lacy ruffs on some of the dresses. All in all, one didn’t know where to look, they were all so fabulous. And then, of course, there were the Night Circus costumes, dark green and black, dark and intimidating, echoing that of Herr du Nacht. I read in the programme that 90% of all the costumes were the work of Carol Gallacher, who has now retired. She will be a hard act to follow indeed, as GTG has been blessed with marvellous costumes over the years.

Tilly’s Circus set suggested a Big Top with black, yellow and red tent panels. It was a lovely design, for me especially, as it was not symmetrical, the back entrance was slightly to the right of centre, and behind that was the red and white stripes of another circus tent. I read in the programme that that was the design of Denise Hodgkiss, the Director, and she was involved with Wardrobe too – is there no end to Denise’s talents? The set changes to and from the Bears’ House were cleverly done to the accompaniment of musical numbers. An amusing touch was that the pictures on the walls were held up by cast members, not always that straight, and one person became the standard lamp!

Props were fun, there was a nice item with hula hoops; there was a huge cage in the Night Circus, later used of course in Tilly’s circus, when Herr du Nacht got his comeuppance. There was a marvellous canon for the human cannonball scenes, and so many more: huge footballs, a giant dumbbell, custard pies and so on.

This was a fun story of two circuses: Tilly’s Circus, run by Dame Tilly Twinkle, and the Night Circus, run by the dastardly Herr du Nacht, whose aim was to take over Tilly’s one. Along the way, Goldilocks came upon the Three Bears’ house, but instead of falling asleep in Baby Bear’s bed, then running away, somehow the friendly bears turned out to be really keen to join Tilly’s circus, so off they all went. There was a fortune teller (Ellie Cahill-Nicholls), who seemed to be in league with Rob Richmond’s marvellous Herr du Nacht, a exceedingly evil villain (with a wonderful voice). The fortune teller tried to tell us at one stage that in reality she was a goodie, but I was never convinced of that! The two clowns, Dibs and Cosmo were played with great gusto by Matthew Perrin and Ben Dray. Dibs was madly in love with Lulu Loops, (Phoebe Barrow, who also was the very able choreographer). She spent much of the time performing acrobatic moves in a hoop that dangled from the ceiling. Peter Flew gave a fine and endearing performance as Dame Tilly Twinkle, mother of Dibs and Cosmo. Tilly’s Circus ringmaster was well played by Jenny Seddon, who was also the writer of this panto. The Three Bears were played by Brian Fraser, Becky van Orden, and either Eva Dray or Harry Frame (depending on which performance). Matilda Hodges made a charming and lively Goldilocks, in her pretty yellow frock, which sometimes seemed to have a royal blue underskirt, and royal blue headband. The 22 strong ensemble filled the stage for the lively dance numbers, which were a delight.

Director Denise Hodgkiss had pulled out all the stops and produced a fantastic evening of fun, a jolly, lively panto with never a dull moment, and of course plenty of very corny jokes!

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