Jack and the Beanstalk

This classic fairy tale, reputedly almost three hundred years old as your programme notes inform us, has been a staple of community pantomimes for, probably, almost as long, with its stock characters and ‘David and Goliath’ storyline. St. Blazey AOS has a well-established reputation for quality pantos that have attracted big audiences over the years so we could be confident of a good night’s entertainment. Here was a traditional format using song and dance mingled with comedy set pieces, lots of quick-fire one-line gags, and invitations for audience participation, that was received enthusiastically by a full house. The typical quintessential portrayal of the Village Square showed the Inn and Dame Trott’s Dairy on opposite sides of the stage, the flats of each painted with stone bases supporting medieval half-timbered walls.  An insert of the Milking Parlour replaced the Village, gaily depicting a beamed kitchen with ‘buckets’ hanging above a ‘roaring fire’ and a ‘dresser’, well placed upstage to enable space for the busy action to come, and the inside of the Giant’s Castle saw the sometime cyc of countryside covered by a star cloth as a ‘sky-high’ backing for a heavily barred cage, over-sized table and chair, brass-bound chest, plus a ‘four-poster’ Hen’s bed.  A bevy of thoughtfully selected props came and went as natural accessories to the characters and storyline.  

Bright and colourful collections with a keen eye for a same-era harmony gave a cohesion to the costume choices. The frilled and ribboned dresses with mob caps and pinafores of the ensemble ladies were complemented by the men’s frock coats, breeches and stockings in the company numbers setting us somewhere in the 18th century appropriate to the tale's origins. But this is panto so a generous supply of wacky outfits clothed the story’s protagonists, although Jack and Jill remained sanely true to the stereotype, smart in breeches and jerkin of brown and black, or pretty as a picture in delicate lilac. Billy’s roomy patched dungarees in primary colours with straw hat were perfect for the village idiot role, while Ready and Waiting’s co-ordinated fabrics placed in reverse positioning linked them as a pair, the style being loose and carefree and the colour mirroring their ‘green’ unaware natures. Snivelling was given typical Baddie garb of top hat, gloves, shiny boots and long black coat emulating Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s Child Catcher, which produced a grotesquely-proportioned shape, fitting the character. In diametric contrast Fairy Miracle-Grow resembled a Cicely Mary Barker Flower Fairy in a beautifully detailed gossamer dress with a heavy leaf-embossed overlay, her hat the calyx of a flower and her wand crystallised ivy with a mini-watering can topper.  Dame Trott’s frocks were quite rightly flashy, polka dots of Friesian black and white with canvas boots, or a full Alpine outfit for no reason other than she was going to altitude! A pretty ice-cream pink striped and frilled dress looked surprisingly normal after the Beyonce raunchy black tights and skintight lycra leotard!  As a finale to close the show the whole cast appeared in shades of tangerine, honey and gold, the richness of the colour linking a variety of styles in spectacular fashion.

A broad choice of tunes added to the enjoyment of this show selected from musicals, Disney films, and pop tracks as well as classical music and TV themes most of which slotted into place and were never over-long.  The standard of singing was high, and it is so good to see an enthusiastic presentation of dance; even better when it’s clear that the choreographer has been able to stretch the more able.  With an accomplished production team in place, strong casting in the leads is a first essential and we had principals here who were able to undertake the commitment for rehearsal of the singing and the dancing. This show had a bouncy and inviting first act that had good pace and concentration but seemed less so after the interval - maybe a fault in the script.   I love that the tradition of sinister dexter was upheld, with Fairy Miracle-Grow set and keeping to her DR corner and Snivelling properly at DL, although he did keep sneaking towards C too much and frequently lost his light because of it. Jack and Jill made an attractively matched pairing at the heart of the narrative. This script had many gags that came thick and fast, mostly receiving the desired reaction but I had to note that not all landed, e.g. “I’m staring defeat in the face” doesn’t work if he’s standing up and no longer staring at de feet!  The cast was moved in a skilled way using the levels well and providing good groupings to create interesting pictures and avoiding the frequent ‘three sides of a square’, and it was great that Jack to ‘started’ to climb the beanstalk. There was a great deal to commend in this attractive and entertaining production and it was a pleasure to sit in the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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