Jack and the Beanstalk

One of the most impressive aspects of this very impressive production was how genuinely engaged the audience was with it throughout. From Fairy Light’s introduction and ‘warm-up’ with the audience, encouraging them to cheer Jack and boo the bad Squire, the laughter, cheering and “oh no it isn’t, oh yes it is” responses from children, and indeed adults, were full-throated and vigorous. The show epitomised the best of pantomime, created just the right atmosphere and feeling, hit all the right notes and took the audience along with it in a spirit of fun and fellow-feeling.

The opening number by the Ensemble of Villagers set the warm, charming feel which pervaded the show. With strong choreography well executed, the Ensemble demonstrated in this, as throughout, great commitment from both the children and the adults alike and succeeded in projecting into the large auditorium despite not having amplification. They were a delight whenever they appeared in the show and the scene in which four of the children appeared in speaking roles as news reporters covering the magic beanstalk story was a treat.

This was very much team effort, with the Ensemble being as crucial as the Principals. The lovely Jack and Jill duet Without Love, for example, had a great backing by the chorus of Villagers, and the Principals. The Ensemble kicked off the feel-good factor and the buoyant energy of the show, and the Principals joined in, with the whole cast passing it on, with their energetic and committed performances, to the audience. Very striking was how effectively the performers engaged with the audience in classic panto style, and also how well they improvised around any of the very, very few ‘fluffs’, turning them to comic advantage.

Jack Trott)was excellent, full of lively exuberance and very good repartee with the audience. The role of Jill Fumble-Trumpet is not the easiest, as the somewhat reactive romantic partner of Jack and the actor succeeded in it superbly, not only bringing to it a magnificent singing voice and bags of charm, but also a roundedness of character and some fine acting, particularly in the scene with Mrs Blunderbore. Mrs Blunderbore gave a consummate performance as the Giant’s wife, knowing how to ‘work’ the audience and expertly gaining their sympathy when leaving the Giant and turning to the side of ‘the good’. The Giant himself may not have appeared in person but gave a strong vocal characterisation from backstage and Simple Simon won over the audience with his cheery bonhomie.

Fairy Lights  was great in the fairy godmother role and Squire Fumble-Trumpet gave a stand-out performance with a magnificent panto portrayal of nastiness, along with a wonderful rap song ‘Bills’ which had some fine dance moves and got the audience clapping along with it. While this production was, as previously mentioned, very much a team effort, special mention must go to Dame Trott for a tour-de-force performance which anchored the whole show through its strength in all areas - assured acting, stage presence and engagement with the audience, perfect comic timing as with the simple but hilarious repetition of the word ‘beans?’ while glancing from those beans to Jack and back, and a delightful and deliberately ‘bad’ singing voice. This showed a mastery, as the actor disguised their actually very good singing voice to fit the character of the Dame when singing solo, as in Somewhere Over The Rainbow, but nevertheless hit all the right notes in the harmonies when singing in duets, as with Jill in I Know Him So Well. One of the many highlights of the show was The Squire and Dame Trott singing I Can’t Fight This Feeling; well-sung, with the harmonies, and not only very funny but also rather emotional and moving.

If the strength of the acting by the Principals across the board was another impressive factor of this impressive show, this strength was seen triumphantly with Gorgonzola the Cow and Gertie Goose. They were superb, acting and reacting all the time they were on stage, whether or not the focus was on them. Gorgonzola was wonderful when knocking her knees in reaction to Jack saying they would be thrown out of their house, or waggling her ears when being stroked by the young villagers; Gertie Goose was very funny indeed with her little gestures and noises, including the egg-laying honks and squats and the nice touch of honking the guitar note run-down when Jack sang Help! to her.

Part of the joy of this production was that as well as some great set-pieces there were lots of small touches which made a big difference. The corny panto jokes kept coming at just the right frequency level to amuse the audience and keep the pace and interest up high if the plot development was having a slight lull. There was plenty of comic business, as when Jack followed a staggering and fainting Dame Trott around the stage with a chair to try to catch her should she fall, and the remote-controlled Toto the Dog was a lovely additional touch to the number Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I particularly enjoyed the ‘twist’ that every prinicipal character, not just Jack, did at least one panto thigh-slap. As this running gag gradually became apparent, the anticipation built up for the audience, wondering which character was going to give a thigh slap next.

The musical numbers were great, with bags of energy and well thought-out and well delivered choreography. Particular highlights for me (in addition to the aforementioned I Can’t Fight This Feeling) were the very jolly Gorgonzola, the spectacular The Show Must Go On and Thriller, and the rousing finale of Ain’t No Beanstalk. Congratulations to all of the Production Team on an amazing job. The Direction and Choreography (Victoria Jones) were first class. The script was written in-house (Pat Jones and Brian Travers) and really worked; it felt professional. Set design (Brian Travers) and constructions (Brian Travers and members of the company) were lovely, particularly the beanstalk and the Trott family cottage with the dry/ice smoke effect from the wings appearing very much as though it was coming from the house chimney. The vast backdrop of the Giant’s Castle was stunning, with the amplified sound effect of Jack’s footsteps on entering enhancing the ‘wow’ effect, as did the cleverly constructed giant cauldron.

The Lighting (Spike Barnes) also enhanced the atmosphere, as with the moving spotlights used while the beanstalk rose, the red wash for the Thriller number and the red and white crossed spotlights in The Show Must Go On. A lot of work had clearly gone into the costumes (Mary Buck) which were spot-on (Simple Simon’s outfit, Mrs Blunderbore’s costume, Dame Trott’s many costumes and Jack and Jill’s finale costumes being notable examples) and the programme too was very well designed indeed. I found the history of Jack and the Beanstalk particularly interesting.

This was a wonderful pantomime with loads of comedy, great rapport with the audience and, above all, warmth and fun. This was shown par excellence in the lovely 12 Days Of Panto scene which had the audience in stitches. Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved for a super performance.

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