Jack and The Beanstalk

Jack and The Beanstalk by Brompton Players was my final trip to Pantoland for this season and it was definitely worth the wait. A lovely community group putting on a lovely show epitomising everything that Village pantomimes should be about - lots of laughs, plenty of fun and great performances all greatly appreciated by the loudest audience I have ever witnessed. 

Heidi Bradley took over the Directorial Reins for this year's Pantomime and ably assisted by a Crew larger than the cast itself took us on a lovely journey to Dame Trott’s Farmyard all the way into the clouds to the Giant’s Castle. With perfectly suited costumes, a bright and colourful lighting plot, clever props and scenery the Panto had everything in it we could have hoped for. 

Now I have become used to huge casts in most of my Panto visits this year however with a cast of just 15 Brompton certainly went for quality over quantity with every cast member giving their all in every scene. It wasn’t just the cast that was small as Brompton rely on the wonderful Robert Drane as Musical Director and Pianist on the night and it was his stunning Solo overture that got the show off to a cracking start. 

From this moment on we got to meet our Two Fairies who would keep the cast and the story on the straight and narrow for the whole show. Appearing in almost every scene  were Hayley Bradley as Sugarsnap and Jessica McCallum as Splitpea and they both did a fantastic job. Their lines and monologues were clear and concise giving plenty of characterisation to their speeches and they also had a brilliant contrast to each other. Hayley gave us a calm and direct approach compared to the beaming smile and amazing energetic personality provided by Jessica. Her attempts to keep breaking into dance were brilliant, showing off some nifty footwork in the ballet sequence. Their lovely voices both added to the quality of the musical numbers throughout the evening.

Kathryn Laverick played the title role and alongside Abby Bradley as Princess Melody provided the ideal love interest in the show. Their chemistry was fab with the couple showing off some lovely vocals alongside great convincing characters. Their duet together provided the perfect stage for them both whilst Kathryn also wowed us with I Can Go The Distance in Act Two. I loved Kathryn’s calm and control in the role alongside some dramatic and over the top scenes and reactions from Abby.

Also showing many different sides to their characters were Andrew Cunningham and Karen Raynor as The King and Queen of Merryvale. Whilst very prim and proper in Act One, they let their guards down brilliantly in the second act showing off a lot of fun and flirtatious behaviour between them. I won’t go into too much detail but one of their exits had me in stitches. 

Providing the constant bad jokes and audience link in the show was Lisa Cowley as Muddles who was a bundle of energy from start to finish. Her Oggy Oggy Oggy’s were responded to with great fashion by the audience on every entrance, her rapport with her mum (The Dame) was wonderful to watch and she gave us a lovely audience participation number at the end even managing to embarrass her 23yr Old daughter in the process! Rumour has it that Old McDonald Had a Farm is still being heard in the village 3 days after the show, such was the volume of the sing-along. 

Alongside Muddles we had our glamorous and wonderful Dame Dotty Trott played by Brodey Laundon in not only his 1st outing with Brompton but also his 1st time in a frock (well in Panto at least). You would never have known this was a debut as he had everything we look for in a great Panto Dame. The way he held his posture was spot on, his vocal inflections gave life to the role and his audience interaction (especially with poor Bill in the front row) was genius. The costumes were perfect for the role and he provided many of the knock-out moments of the show - especially his entrance earlier than planned in a state of undress! Brodey also provided us with many of the lead vocals of the show, ably assisted by his cast members he led some fab musical choices with In the Dairy (Navy) a real standout. 

Rivalling The Dame, not only in the show but also for ability to draw a reaction, was our menacing baddy Fleshcreep played with a delightful scowl by Keith Burns. His entrances were deliciously nasty and over indulgent with a great mixture between Ru Paul’s Drag Race and the Childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang being the overall image I obtained. The Boos were suitably targeted at him by the audience and cleverly bounced back by this talented performer and it was nice to see him delve into the audience to really give us all a hard time later on in the show. His ability to raise a level of performance really shone in his big solo number - Let Me Entertain You where he showed off another side to his talents.

It was not only the audience having a hard time by Fleshcreep but he also gave his sidekicks a torrid time with the dimwitted pair of Natalie Moores and Craig Hills being led a merry dance by him. As Bumble and Ramble, Natalie and Craig were ideally cast with the straight-laced and very naive Bumble bouncing off against Ramble whose enthusiasm and passion for stupidity excelled at every opportunity. They provided some great physical comedy and never let their characters slip for the whole production.

Now I mentioned that this was a small cast and with quite a lot of principal roles it’s no surprise that the Chorus was small however Janet Turner, Ebony Welford and Aimee Wainwright were certainly not small in performance. Appearing in many scenes and many of the musical numbers the vocals and simple choreography routines gave real life to the show throughout. They all, especially the Two Junior members had such beaming smiles throughout bug numbers like Good Morning, Top of The World and I Need a Hero and they really filled the stage with their own personalities in the roles.

In fact, as amazing as all our principals were, Aimee Wainwright alongside Lucy Coyne also played one of our favourite characters of the night - Daisy The Cow. Brilliantly navigating the small stage in the fabulous life-sized 2-person costume the audience had a real connection with her. Her 1 sound effect reactions providing even more warmth and comedy to this fabulous animal!

It wasn’t just all the little touches that made this a lovely Panto to watch but a lot of the Technical sides were slick and really effective. From a booming Giant’s voice provided by Mark Bradley to the really clever growing Beanstalk that rose to the roof of the Hall in front of our eyes every little touch had clearly been given great attention by Director Heidi. Even the wonky door frame was utilised to add to the comedy of the piece and Heidi and Robert must be very proud of their cast who clearly had given so much time and effort to the show. The production kept flowing and never once dropped keeping our interests at all times and by my rather sore throat on the way home I clearly had been joining in with the raucous reactions along with the rest of the packed house.

A huge well done to everyone involved and I look forward to joining you all again in 2026 for some more great community Panto fun!

 

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