Hansel and Gretel

My First visit to Brompton Players was to watch their annual pantomime – this time the lovely Hansel and Gretel and what struck me at first was how pleasant it was to be at a true community village show. From the lovely greeting to witnessing all the friendly banters from locals and friends through to the rousing God Save The king prior to the show starting it had a lovely warm feel.

The production team had clearly put a lot of work and effort in as this small space was transported to a fairytale wonderland and I was very pleased to see Julia Staves behind the piano rather than opting for the easier backing track option – it gave this show a very authentic feeling and matched the vocalists wonderfully.

Although not famous as a Pantomime it is certainly a very well-known story and taking up the helm of the storytelling was our delightful Bluebell, played with such warmth and a beaming smile by Margaret Cooper in complete contrast to Lucy Steven in the role of Nightshade, our Wicked Witch of the Woods. Her cackle was piercing and echoed around the hall setting her up for a great role as she tries to bring down our leading duo. Their lines were slick, and both kept the rhyming monologues flowing along at ease – a tricky skill to master.

Duo’s are a definite theme of this show and there were some wonderful collaborations. Jaycee Knight and Hazel Proud were full of energy and bounce as Hansel and Gretel switching from terrified kids to revenge seekers with ease. Their parents were played wonderfully by Andrew Cunningham and Stacy Lovell, Andrew the perfect whimpering and hen-pecked husband with his fabulous I'm A Lumberjack rendition hounded from start to finish by the kids' evil step-mother. Stacy gave us a snarl and brilliant li-curl throughout with cutting one-liners and a fab stage presence to match.

The comedy was supplied in abundance throughout the show, Wally played by Lisa Cowley was a hoot with cheesy "Dad" jokes to match a great physical display. Her interaction with Heather played by Leonie Robertshaw worked so well and the pair were great fun throughout. Leonie really embraced the soft and unconfident side to her character a stark contrast to her own performance and she teamed up brilliantly with the Prince Johann played with a stiff collar and wonderful charm by Kathryn Laverick. Their were some lovely vocals on display in this show, most notably these two when they teamed up for a lovely rendition of Opposite Your Smile.

Ad-libbing is certainly commonplace in Panto-land and there were a number of moments where it was tricky to see where Ray Moores was going in the dialogue at times. Having said that this all added to him giving us a very amusing and larger than life Dame as Peggy Pumpernickel, owning the stage and certainly giving Wally and everyone in his reach a torrid time.

Almost everyone in this production had a named role such is the size of the cast and it was lovely to seebroughtpotlight; Natalie Moores and Hayley Bradley teaming up wonderfully as the eco-warriors Nut-meg and Basil - some of the facial expressions and reactions were genius; Ella Smithson gave us a lovely Wolfgang - aide to the Prince with a performance well above her years and there was a true family feel to the animal roles with Sue and Chris Collingwood taking on crows and owls throughout - Sue in particular brought the house down with her cawing and flapping around. A Huge well done to Aoife Chandler and Janet Turner for covering a large amount of ensemble work - the show is nothing without you guys.

Having seen this production recently it was great to see Director and Choreographer Heidi Bradley's take and vision for the scenes, the routines were slick and matched the cast wonderfully and the Baking Scene with the football links was genius (not used last time I'd seen this show) - definitely worth all the hard work it needed to be effective.

Brompton may not have the glitzy sets, huge orchestras, and massive budgets but what they have got is a truly dedicated team on and off stage and together they brought us a thoroughly entertaining, funny and lively show that entertained the full house, me included. Thank you for a wonderful evening and to your front of house team for the amazing hospitality shown.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.