Jack And The Beanstalk

Well it’s Pantomime time again, “Oh no it’s not!”. . .“Oh yes it is!”

Tyldesley Little Theatre’s production of Jack and The Beanstalk directed by Connor Parkinson certainly made the most of this hidden gem of a theatre, situated on Lemon Street. On a wet & dreary December Sunday afternoon the theatre was packed and filled with children who were entranced and transported to panto land. With audience participation, and the usual children on stage moment, I could see the excitement on their faces and they even dared to do the baby shark song!

Martin Taylor, Musical Director had some talented singers to work with, using an interesting range of songs: one stand-out singer was Lizzy Boardman who played the Harpist & overall the cast were strong singers too.

The set worked well and the voile wings in different colours looked bright and added texture. The growing Beanstalk was impressive too courtesy of Eddie Stanley, Liam Stanley and Ravin Seecharan.

Cathryn Megan Hughes who played Jack and Gemma Manfredi who played Simple Simon worked well together and kept the story moving on. Gemma had to work hard to get the young audience going, but it paid off and they loved her.

Cameron Rowe appeared with that extra bit of zing and lifted everything when he walked on stage, very funny bones and a natural talent to read an audience. Cameron had good timing and when a Dame can walk on stage perform and do a jump into a jazz split - what a fantastic entrance! It always helps when you can see the actor actually enjoying themselves and having fun with the character. Great costumes too. Cameron also worked well with Ian Hunter who played the King - their relationship could have been milked even more.

Sally Mason playing Snatchet and Diannah Miller as Scarper also worked well together, injecting pace good counterpoint comedy. Their costumes complemented their characters.

The beautiful Fairy Sugardust played by Chloe Thomas and Catherine Aspinall playing the evil Piccalilli struck just the right panto note and both had lovely voices, I just wished more had been written for Piccalilli.

Well done to Tyldesley Little Theatre for creating the magic of pantomime and making my guest and I feel so welcome

Thankyou,

Regards

Liz Hume-Dawson

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