Jack and the Amazing Organic Beanstalk

For their Christmas Pantomime, one of the members (Jerry Thomas)  wrote Jack and The Amazing Organic Beanstalk. Not only that, he also directed it coupled with talented musicians, Neil Hamblin and Stephen Burdge, who gave us original, very clever songs. The theme was Climate Change and Conservation leading us gently through what would happen if we did not look after the planet.  With Cop 23 in all our minds this was a timely reminder to the audience, whilst also giving us an enjoyable pantomime.

Enter the Dame Mrs Smallwood (Andy Grant) with all the pantomime gags that you could wish for. Fabulous outrageous outfits and wigs that befits a dame, sometimes forgetting a line but he did well to cover and as the night wore on his energy levels increased to give us a fun character on stage.  He sang with relish ‘I need a man’ and the audience loved it.

His Son Jack wanted to be a scientist to save the planet and go to university.  No love interest for Jack in this panto.  Silas Powell as Jack was excellent, we heard every word clearly.  Good characterisation here and a pleasant singing voice, he was a very confident lead.

Clarabelle the Cow (Katherine Thomas) in a Cow onesie and Gertie the Goose (Jan Irving) in a great goose costume, obviously stole the show for the children. No lines to learn but plenty of thought going into how each animal would behave.

In this show we don’t have just one evil baddie but two.  Enter stage left Lord Grasper played by the always excellent Daniel Curley.  Daniel is a true professional on stage and he has the most amazing voice, singing beautifully, he commands your attention. Belladonna the Witch (Sharon Godwin) gave us someone else to boo and hiss. Great costumes again and Sharon really got into her stride being evil.  Both characters were terrific on stage - well done.

Bonecrusher The Giant (Chris Rogerson) was the gentle giant fooled to marry Belladonna and not terrifying at all.  Some nice work from Chris and  good to see him up there on the stage again.

I have to say I loved The Wise Woman (Paulette Harris). Having played the role in Blackadder, I see where the director got his ideas from.  Paulette gave us a wonderful character with facial expression that would make any gurner happy!

The small ensemble played various roles on stage plus helped take on and off all the props. Working well together as a team I especially loved the policeman Nabbem (Liz Curley) and Nickem (Juliet Pithers).   Martin Warner as  the Financial Advisor had the unenviable job of playing a straight character; his diction and poise on stage was super.

The set on this small stage was excellently painted with the various scenes. The choreography for the prop changes was good, while the props were made extremely well.  Lighting has improved so much and we especially loved the beanstalk that lit up all around the hall. Red lighting for the witch and the flash lighting added to the scenes. The staff of the wise woman really showed up well as did the Christmas trees. Lots of thought had been given to all of these ideas, they definitely added to the show.

The live music by Neil Hamblin and Stephen Burdge really made this production, and  are to be congratulated, as are all of the cast and crew who gave us a really super Christmas treat.

Thank you so much for your lovely card, it was really appreciated. Also thanks to Barbara Llewellyn  for looking after us so well as FOH. We do hope you will go on giving joy to all the audiences of the future and we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

 

 

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