Jack and the Beanstalk

NOMADS’ choice of panto this year was Jack and the Beanstalk - one of the ‘big five’ most performed pantomimes according to polls which produce this type of statistic.  However, there is no doubt that this story is a great favourite with societies and audiences alike.  Sharon Harrison’s script was in the words of Dame Dally’s daughter Dilly “well good”.

Set design and build as usual was in the competent hands of Alan Gleed and his team of eight set painters.  The in-house painted backcloths were excellent as were the extra pieces of scenery including an impressive ‘oak’ door to the giant’s castle. The costumes were beautiful which, as they were once again in the hands of Sarah Smith, goes without saying. Jim Bourne’s lighting design was good but technically at the Wednesday performance the sound had problems.  Sound levels overall were rather loud and there was a great deal of feedback from body mics.  It appeared efforts were made as the show went on to correct things but unfortunately there were still problems.

Musical Director Will Cahill and Choreographer Chloe Gilbert had worked the cast hard to good effect.  Vocally the company numbers were good but there were few solos which is a decision the Director and MD will have made if the vocal talent or confidence was not plentiful. That said I very much enjoyed Fairy Sweet Pea’s lovely rendition of “Somewhere Only We Know” and I wish Harmony the Harp had been given a solo as the snippets we heard from that character were beautiful.  Well done to the Ensemble who gave great support and performed Becky Gilbert’s excellent choreography skilfully. 

The principal members of cast were very good.  Jason Ware was extremely good as Fleshcreep the Giant’s right hand man and had the audience booing from the word go. He has a good voice and some great moves particularly in “Bad to the Bone”.  A lovely and confident performance from Karen Thorpe as the forgetful Fairy Sweet Pea was enhanced by a great voice. 

In the title role Zara Fisher as Jack did a grand job. I have seen Zara in several Young NOMADS shows but I think this is her first principal role. Well done. Jay Hopper played Jack’s sister Dilly well with some well-delivered comic dialogue. The Dame is usually the central character in panto but in this version of the story she did not have as much to do or say as usual maybe as there was no comedy sidekick to bounce the jokes off.  In any event, as always, Steven Beach as Dame Dally was in fine form. Steven’s rapport and interaction with the audience is always immediate and he was kept on his toes with a fast change of costume for every scene - and he was involved in about fourteen of them. A first-rate performance.   What can one say about the one person costume of the cow? Not a lot would probably be best but suffice to say the udders were a very prominent feature. Inside said costume of Pat the Cow was Amy Cahill and she was great: nicely remembering to give the relevant cow noises to any word containing double ‘O’ once Fairy Sweet Pea gave her a voice.  Martha Harvey made a sweet Princess Jill and good support came from Courtney Parker as Bo Peep and Alex Schosland as King Cole. Nigel Witney’s Mayor Grump and the dippy duo Slap and Tickle played by John Wigg and Joe Ward respectively made the most of their on/off appearances. In the Giant’s Castle April Murfitt kept things organised as Mrs Mopp with Esther McIntyre lovely as Harmony the Harp and Leia Schultz nice and clucky as the golden egg-laying Henrietta. Steven Fenn as The Narrator and Nicholas Frankau  as The Town Crier popped on and off to keep the story flowing.  The team of seven Ensemble dancers and Chris Brighty as the voice of Giant Blunderbore completed the cast.

Directed by Mandy Morrish the show was well rehearsed, had a good pace and the audience took up all given opportunities to get involved. Just the thing to warm the cockles of the heart on one of the coldest nights of the winter so far. Well done to all involved.  Next up for NOMADS is The Cemetery Club in March.

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