Hansel & Gretel

A Pantomime in February? Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes indeed it is! The first thing I must say is that it felt particularly strange to be heading to a Pantomime in February, however as soon as arrived at the Torpoint Council Chambers the atmosphere outside was immense as the audience were queuing down the street awaiting enthusiastically for the doors to open. Thank you first of all to Director Claire Widdicombe for such a personal and warm welcome to their production.

Upon entering the Council Chambers we were immediately transported to the magical world of “Panto land” thanks to fabulous lighting and a small glimmer of set teasing what will be to come when the curtains open. The atmosphere once inside was electric and it was amazing to see an absolutely full house without a single seat spare. The town of Torpoint has clearly been eagerly awaiting the return of their beloved Panto after a significant break due to COVID. 

Once everyone was seated the lights dimmed and the overture started with the classic Andy Martin lighting state changes to signal the start of Torpoint Players panto. Overture finished, and with a puff of smoke appeared the marvellous Good Fairy Bluebell played by Tracy Peebles. The fairy, as with all pantomimes, was to speak a majority of her lines in rhyme and this was handled perfectly with the right level of fairy-tale magic. But of course, things are never straight forward in panto land and Hansel and Gretel was to be no different. Another puff of smoke and so appeared Evil Witch Nightshade played by Laura Willis. Nightshade it must be said had astoundingly effective makeup and her costume was absolutely spot on. The connection between these two characters was fantastic and was incredibly strong casting for these two roles.

Now that both the Good Fairy and the Evil Witch had set the story it was time to jump straight in to the village of “Munchen Luncheon”. The scene opened with a whole ensemble number “Hello” accompanied beautifully by Musical Director Betty Begbie and choreography by Viv Smith. Come the end of the song and it was time for us to meet Dame Peggy Pumpernickel, played by Tony Walsh, for the first time. Peggy’s entrance accompanied by a musical prelude was hysterical and I found myself belly laughing before any lines had even been said. Peggy’s expressions were phenomenal and the makeup once again only helped to make this even stronger. I would go as far as to say that this was the strongest dame I have ever seen at a pantomime and the audience were lapping up every single piece of comedy gold thrown out (of which there were many). The performance style of Tony reminded me somewhat of comedy performances by the late Jethro. The only shame with peggys performance comes down to the script and a very long audience participation of “Peggy Pumpernickel, someone’s knocking on your knocker”. It was a very long tongue twister of a phrase for the audience to recite back and as a result the response wasn’t as high though the audience really did give it a go. This however did not detract from the incredibly strong performance given by Tony I would have just preferred something short that I could quickly and easily shout out.

It would be nigh on impossible to mention each and every performer in the show as there was a plethora of principal roles throughout and boy was there some strong casting choices here. This is one aspect in which I felt this script was excellent, in that it allowed Director Claire to showcase some of the excellent talent within the company. Fritz, played by John Bond, had some absolutely hilarious comedy moments throughout and these were made all the funnier by his incredibly straight performance style. One of my all time favourite numbers from this production came from Fritz as he sang along with the chorus to “The Lumberjack Song” by Monty Python. Wally played by Rachel Kenhard was another example of superb casting and her comic delivery was absolutely perfect.

It is important to make a pantomime script your own and make it relevant to the local area and current times and there were some small tweaks throughout which really made the comedy that bit stronger. The observational and local references had the audience in ruptures and one of my all-time favourite lines came from act two as the search party were banging on the Evil Witches door. The ever simple but effective line “Who’s banging on my door, It better not be test and trace” was delivered with superb comic timing.

The principal cast, as previously mentioned, were very strong and their projection was suitable to fill the venue. It must be said however that the volume did tend to take a dip during the songs and I feel that some radio mics would have helped to push this right to the back of the room and helped keep the same level throughout.

The designers for this show have worked incredibly well together to combine all of the elements of Set, Lighting, Costumes and Music choices. Andy Martin as always has created a brilliantly effective set to fit in to a tiny amount of wing space without sacrificing on details. I did notice the gingerbread men for the Evil Witches home dotted around. Andy’s Lighting helped make this set really come alive and created the perfect fairy-tale atmosphere.  Sound effects also helped greatly to set the scene. Costumes provided by Gill Prideaux, Claire Widdicombe and Lesley Weeks were fantastic and perfectly suitable. One of my favourites was all of the clown outfits at the circus. 

A fabulous evening out. Riddled with comedy gold. A beautifully warm reception and an absolute pleasure to have attended. 

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