Jack and the Beanstalk

In this NODA pantomime written by Colin Barrow, Dame Daphne Buttock is faced with eviction for not paying her rent and is forced to sell her cow Daisy, to raise funds to pay the brokers men, Rack and Ruin. Daisy is sold to Hemlock not for beans but for a bag of gold pieces which soon magically change to beans. Hemlock captures Princess Jillian and takes her and Daisy the Cow to the Giant from where they must be rescued.

We meet all the typical panto characters and I lost count of all the corny jokes and the audience entered fully into the spirit of this traditional panto. The opportunity was taken to add a few topical jokes too – could the Chairman of the BBC arrange a loan for poor Daphne Buttock to pay her rent? Daphne played by David Vas presented the character well taking advantage to show off her splendid costumes. Following the opening number of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t stop the feeling’ we meet Princess Jillian (Sophie Williams) and Jack Buttock (Lizzy Waterhouse) our romantic leads, who sang an endearing ‘Opposite Your Smile’.

Jack’s brother Simple Simon played by Alex Fitzgerald, kept the action upbeat and this went up a further notch with the entrance of the nasty Hemlock played by Simon Billingham, who held the stage well and engaged with the audience accordingly. We hated him - great stuff! Naturally the balance had to be restored, by a pleasing Fairy played by Sarah Earl. Rack and Ruin, that well-known double act Kathy Othen and Ruth Hammond, added to the fun and their ‘Rice Pudding’ sequence for numerous £10 notes worked very well – although not for Ruin! Another double act Daisy the Cow (Tom Oliver & Marcia Bennett) managed to find a way of dispensing milk already packaged!

Chris Marsh played a majestic King and I enjoyed his ‘Tea for Two’ duet with Daphne in Act 2. Six dancers combined from the Kirsty Purvis School of Dance, Focal Pointe School of Dance and the Crescent Ballet School, made a nice contribution, particularly their ‘Skeleton’ dance which was very effective. Hugh Rayner added his off-stage voice to a significant giant Blunderbore and Becky Weir played The Ghost, without whom of course the ‘It’s behind you’ scene would not work.

The set, including some well painted backcloths looked really good and Lucas Ball and Tim Stock on piano and drums provided sensitive support to the singers. I was pleased to see Mike Turner back at the helm directing and ably supported by Pauline Boyce.

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