Goldilocks & The Three Bears

Nothing kicks off Christmas quite like a family pantomime and this year, PADOS (literally) pack in the local community into the cosy auditorium of PADOS house for ‘Goldilocks & The Three Bears’.

As soon as the show got underway I was delighted to hear a welcome improvement with the level of punch from the ensemble singing which was a major enhancement on previous years.

We always get a good selection of songs in a PADOS panto ranging from current crowd pleasers, Disney and Musical Theatre.

The problem I usually find with most panto scripts is how they only offer a basic foundation for the production, the cast and creative team should build on this and include plenty of fun and frolics with topical gags and (nine times out of ten) ignore the optional song choices. The standard of this script was not particularly inspiring and needed a lot of inclusions to craft a decent show out of it. The flaw here is how the script didn’t seem to allow much room for that as the show was already quite long, finishing at around 10:20pm.

My personal highlight was the dance off of the dames – more inclusions along these lines with in jokes for the society would have been favourable (whilst butchering some of those lengthy wordy scenes to trim down the running time) as they were not only well received they added much needed lift to the overall presenta

Hannah Kent as Goldilocks had a strong rapport with the audience as did Flapjack, played with mounds of energy by Jack Forrest.

Stephen Moss delivered the wizard villain with all the usual traits and stereotypes which are to be expected from the fairy-tale baddie though he seemed reluctant to engage with the crowd, keeping his eyes firmly on the back wall (looking over our heads) when addressing us directly which, in such an intimate space, felt a little unusual.

PADOS pantos have their stalwarts in David & Lauren Livesey, Amanda Ernest, Simon Fletcher, Stephen Moss, Debbie Lewis & Charlotte Harrison and I suspect it’s this tribe who are the driving force behind each of these festive projects. The team understand the art and knack of pantomime and no doubt offer influence and enthusiasm for this much loved genre to the company in spades.   

I enjoyed Laura Bains’ merry choreography which was both gratifying and energetic involving members of the society of all ages, tailoring the steps to everyone’s capabilities without losing effect.  

Josh Leach took on the Principal Boy - Prince Éclair offering a good performance for a beginner, keeping his projection up would have been an advantage as a lot of his lines were missed / mumbled.

Listening to the show was a game of accent spotting with a family of Bears and a Witch from America, a Scottish Dame and a Liverpoodlian Fairy. It’s all well and good using a pantomime as an opportunity to show off your best accent but some did pose as a tad odd. Pantomime is so patriotic to the UK I can understand the regional dialects being included (let’s face it, accents can add to a character’s humour as well as the opportunity for jokes relating to where that accent/character is from) but American did seem a tad out of place in a pantomime, especially given that no reason for it was made clear.

Costumes were well sought and as ever the team had produced a clever set for the space.  

I commend the decision to shake up the casting a bit as it can become a tad stale and predictable, it’s encouraging to see people playing roles you wouldn’t expect and allowing others a shot.   

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