Jack and The Beanstalk

What a lovely warm welcome we received at Parsons Hall, Irchester last Friday evening. A large audience and lots of front of house smiles from the people on the door, the bar, and the concession stand.  (Front of House Management, Chloe Ellson). We were given a program, which sadly did not include the NODA logo, which means I can’t enter it into the NODA competition, yet it was colourful, photo-filled, and an interesting read. You included some history about Jack and the Beanstalk panto and about your charitable status, all the information about the cast and crew, plus your next production, excellent. (Poster design by Chloe Ellson and programme design by Alex McKenzie.)

Your pantomime included lots of familiar traditional elements, great musical numbers, a slapstick kitchen scene, the ‘behind you’ skit, a delightful cow, fabulous characters, and a very funny script.  What more could I ask? Dame Dotty Dimple played by director Alex McKenzie was super in the role.  Engaging, fascinating, and skilled. I loved the relationships on stage and could see that he relished being part of such a brilliant cast and I could tell they were all having fun on stage and genuinely wanted everyone attending to have a good time.  In this beanstalk tale, Dame Dimple played the mother of Jack and Simple Simon, she runs the local dairy and was loved by the villagers and respected by the royal family. These relationships were totally believable, and the characterisations was really good.

Simple Simon played by Jamie Thomas, was really funny, he was relaxed and engaged with the audience which meant the audience felt able to join in. His high energy performance was great and he kept up a good pace all through the pantomime. His catchphrase was funny because it was so long, and the audience had trouble remembering it!  I particularly enjoyed his word play and jokes, the very funny one liners and well scripted misinterpretations, which had the audience either groaning or laughing helplessly. His brother Jack by contrast, our hero and of course love interest for the princess, was played expertly by Chris Taylor. I enjoyed his cheeky side yet appreciated some strong acting and a really good singing voice.

Piccalilli The Witch played by Justine Abbott and Fairy Sugardust, played by Rebecca Gibson, were both brilliant.  They had lovely singing voices, excellent diction, the best costumes on the stage and confident acting skills too. Great casting! I particularly liked they often spoke in rhyming couplets which is a very traditional element on pantomime. The audience really enjoyed booing and cheering them.  I think one sign of a really good baddy, is when at the final walk down the audience boo’s to begin with, then cheer and applaud with vigour, and this is exactly what happened. I understand that Rebecca has not had a lead role before, so very well done on making such a wonderful début.

Then we have the other baddies. Rancid the Ratman, Ellie Miles, Snatch and Scarper, Julie Walton and Anthony Curson and not forgetting the Giant, Buster Gut-Bucket played by Chris Thirlwell. The audience loved to hate you.  You all did very well in keeping up a good pace, well-rehearsed scenes, and excellent characterisations. It was slightly harder to hear the giant in the costume, but this did not distract from the story. Ultimately, good triumphs over evil, as all good fairy tales show, yet we felt empathy for all these characters and this was due to the engagement with the audience and the humour you all imparted in your roles.

The Royal family, King Crumble, Marcus Whitestone, Queen Apricot, and Lindsey Martin, were just lovely.  Their strained relationship was a source of comic one liners and both actors displayed excellent timing and very good diction. Their relationship was flawed, yet their interactions with the audience and other characters in this story was excellent. I loved their costumes too! Both Lindsey and Marcus sang well and I loved their story within this panto. Princess Charlotte played by Laura Cousins seemed to enjoy playing a non-typical princess. A strong female, who wasn’t going to be told what to do.  Yet she falls for Jack, a love at first sight moment, then gets captured and needs rescuing later in the story. Laura has a lovely singing voice, a good stage presence and is perfectly cast opposite Chris as Jack.

The ensemble were Dulcie A’Lee-Holt, Evia Grant, Flo Glaze, Amy Griffiths, Bonnie Knight, Erin Mizon, Isla Morrall, Isabella Orson and Penny Wilmot were hidden a little at the back at times, yet all acted well, they were fabulous dancers, and I heard every line that came from this group, excellent.

The youth ensemble were Isla Baggett, Lily Cagney, Imogen Leary, Aria-Jayne Martin, Ashley Masson, Lydia McBride, Rosie McCormick, Violet Pettitt, Oliva Pharrell, Rosalie Powell, Evie Thirlwell, Kara Toms, Ettie-Mae York who all looked amazing, their lovely costumes and movements during the dance numbers was excellent.  Really creative facial expressions from some and lots of smiles and emotions displayed when required. (I felt that Ashley was particularly good, as he didn’t stop acting from the moment he was on stage until his exit. A little star!) I want to thank the chaperones (Manager Nicki Pott et al,) without whom the panto could not happen. It’s such a big commitment to ensure the young people are safe and enjoy the experience of working on stage.  The youth leaders were Chloe Ellson and Alex McKenzie and the youth assistant was Grace Baker-Brown.

The lead dancers Freya Jolley, Emma Ellson and Chloe Ellson were effective and very talented.  The skilled choreography by Chloe Ellson was relevant to each number, interesting and exciting to watch. Smiling, moving well and always in the right place at the right time, very well done. The final musical number had a huge energy and had the audience clapping along, well done.

I noticed some quick changes for Erin Mizon and Fraya Jolley who played Buttermilk, Dames Dimple’s cow. They moved well in the costume and were able to enhance the action and the humour in their scenes.  I particularly want to mention Ben Thirlwell in his role of Humphrey as well as his place in the ensemble.  I think Ben is a talent to watch, his acting was really good, his diction excellent and I enjoyed every moment of his scenes. Well done.

One of the highlights for me was the live band. Musical Director Ashley Gray, with Richard Awdry, on piano, Kevin Griffiths, on bass, and Keith Gamble on Drums while Ashley himself played guitar. I wonderful addition to a village pantomime, you created a really lovely sound, and the musical elements of this show were very skilled. All the lighting and sound were excellent, I didn’t get to meet your technical team, yet I appreciate their efforts.

The backstage crew seemed to be organised and were busy all night with so many skilled fast scene changes and stage props to manage. (Stage manager Ben Miles). The set designed by Alex McKenzie and Jacqui Saunders, was simple and effective, the typical painted panto backdrops, a growing magical beanstalk, created by June King and Alex McKenzie, mid curtains, cloud land at the top of the beanstalk, all enhanced the action and helped tell the story. Really well done. (Painters Irchester Players committee).

For a village pantomime, I would say you are punching above your weight, I had a really great time, I laughed all night and sang all the way home.  But I do have a small criticism. I feel your costuming let you down for some of the characters. I know with (probably) a shoestring budget, costumes can seem a large element to cover. Especially with such a large cast and so many named characters, the ensemble looked great, the royal couple, the fairy, and the witch had appropriate costumes plus the giants’ huge costume was fabulous, the baddies all looked appropriately down at heel and all these costumes enhanced the characters.  I just felt that Alex might have had a little more coverage. I would have liked to see Dame Dimple in a skirt, especially for the final scene, (those trousers left little to the imagination!) and perhaps an apron when she is in the dairy. The high heels, the legs, the boobs were magnificent, but I felt Dame Dimple deserved a couple of more costume elements. Also the Princess and Jack might have had a different costume for the final scene. I thought Princess Charlotte’s costume was not quite right for her character either, a simple day dress, yet with a tiara, which felt wrong. A crown would have looked better than a tiara, despite how pretty it was.  Or a more typical princess dress and tiara. Just a small part of the magnificent experience of enjoying your show, but something to think about for future pantomimes.  

Thank you for meeting me after the show, I felt you all had a really good time performing your pantomime and I appreciate the time you spent with me.  I sensed the community within Irchester Players is inclusive, caring, and talented.  Thank you, I hope your next production is as successful. 

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