Jack and the Beanstalk

Pantomime can lend itself to variations on a theme, and this version was one such variation penned by Mike McClean and Kenn Oldfield. The basic story was intact of course, but KTG’s production team led by Tony Langford, Paula Dymock and Stephen Watkins allowed for some innovation.

We are first introduced to a henchman to the ‘Giant in the sky’ called ‘Fleshcreep’ and the Goth ‘Fairy’ played well by Cath Skryme and Sue Cassidy respectively. Neither failed to resist the opportunity to broaden their roles with humour and both were impressively dressed. In fact the entire cast looked stunning in all their costumes with a number of wow moments when the chorus and dancers were on stage particularly at each end of each act.

Brothers ‘Jack’ (Oliver Roberts) and ‘Simon’ (Matthew Street) Trott engaged with the audience very well, kept the pace moving and had excellent voices. Roberts’ number ‘This is the moment’ at the end of Act 1 was superb. Helen Willis as ‘Lucy’ was captivating and sang with great strength throughout the performance. Gary Kimber as ‘The Squire’ too was suitably cast and gave a convincing performance in his attempts to extract unpaid rent from ‘Dame Trott’.

In this version, ‘Dame Trott’ was written as the central character, which explains why she appeared perhaps more than you might expect compared with other versions of the pantomime. But no one better to carry that off than Barry North, who as we have come to expect, engages instantly with the audience with wit and timing, resplendent in a record breaking variety of costumes.

When the story eventually unravels, ‘Jack’ is forced to sell ‘Daisy’ the Cow (Sally Smith and Judy Garton) albeit for some magic beans and we are taken to the land of the Giant where Lucy is captured and eventually rescued. ‘The Giant’ himself is a fantastic spectacle, bravely operated by Andrew Dunkley.

The icing on the cake and a professional one, was applied by Paula Dymock, Lianne Street assisted by Charlotte Collins and their Harlequin Stage School, without which a KTG panto would be incomplete.  The varying routines by the team of youngsters and senior dancers were nothing less than stunning. The final scene with full company was again as we would expect, spectacular.

Congratulations too for raising funds throughout the run for two worthy charities; Worcestershire Oncology Centre and Megan Baker House.

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