Happy Ever After

PRIVATE EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY

Original panto scripts are always interesting as the playwright, in this case Matt Isham, is very familiar with the society and therefore writes to their strengths.  Happy Ever After is a novel idea.  Modern day Beth falls off her cycle and ends up in pantoland.  Is she dreaming or has she landed in a Dr Who-style time warp?  Characters from numerous pantomimes appear, Mother Goose, Wishee Washee, Dick Whittington plus plenty of evil in the guise of Gremlins and a Dark Lord.  Beth has to help Mother Goose and the Pantolanders defeat the Dark Lord to get herself back home. Lots of scope for everyone involved and, of course, it is all Happy Ever After.

The very colourful scenery designed by Matt Isham worked well and the raised area was well used and added verisimilitude.  Costumes by June Hinchliffe  and her team were lovely and congratulations on finding the plethora of Dames’ wigs needed.    Lighting and sound did what they needed to do although the sound fluctuated depending on how close people were to the floor mics. Well done on the makeup Rachel Isham and also Rebecca Sands, a major contributor to the face-paint for cat, rat, frog and the six gremlins which was impressive. 

There were many strong performances in evidence from the principal players. In fact everyone in named roles did a fine job.  Olivia Balzano was great as Beth, she is a natural.  John Pickering did a very good job as Mother Goose and worked well with “The Lads” Wishee Washee and Dick Whittington, Grace Ireson and Ashleigh Tuchener respectively.  Wishee and Dick made a super pairing both acting-wise and vocally.  

A stand-out performance came from Chloe Fegan-Webb as Grizelada the not really wicked witch and her pet/children Cat (well played by Bella Barletta), Rat (a sleek and suave Luca Gargiulo) and Frog played by Evan Grattidge who found an amazing number of ways to say “Ribbet”.  

An amusing pairing “what, what” was Helen Grattidge as Anita Bath and Nathalie Balzano as Evanna Tinkle the Ugly Sisters. Then we had Emily Marshall as Cinderella, Grace Sands as Alice and Phil Bailey as Prince Charming, Sam Smethurst as Puss in Boots/Captain Hook and Leo Balzano as Puppetmeister Dave who all ably supported the main characters whilst Malcolm Cox kept things linked as the Narrator.

I haven’t forgotten the evil element which was The Dark Lord played by Jason Smart who infiltrated the Pantolanders’ brains turning them all into Dames!  The Dark Lord was helped by his team of (not very) evil Gremlins and if I am allowed favourites these were they.  Well played Elodie Creber, Ebony Richardson, Joy Ireson, Madeline Konradt, Tilly Pope and Evie Fox-Young.

The fairly small chorus with Andy Howard, Brenda Baker, Maggie Cox, Sam Smethurst, Danya Van Deventer and Annie Ford added their voices in support of the Principal cast and most were called upon to be victims of the Dark Lord.  

Under the Musical Direction of Martin Avery there were some strong solos and duets.  There was not too much chorus work but the two final numbers with the whole cast involved were excellent.  Sam Smethurst created choreography which suited all capabilities.

Writer/Director/Designer Matt Isham provided RADSOC with a highly amusing original script which I think he will agree his cast did full justice to. Thank you for inviting me along to enjoy the fun with you.

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