Jack and the Beanstalk

A very entertaining pantomime from Grange Youth. Jack and the Beanstalk had all the necessary ingredients. Pantomime is one of the hardest form of theatre, to be able to send yourself up, do outrageous things, yet still make the part believable to small children in the audience is quite and achievement.

A lot of hard work and time spent with all these young people aged from between tiny to age 18 was evident. The whole evening was entered into with excitement and enthusiasm by the young cast. In the title role of Jack, Grace Heap played this part well, I thought her singing was really lovely, and she added a touch of romance with Chloe Owens as Princess Primrose, this young lady also played her part well. I have to say that Molly Hirst as Simple Simon really stamped her infectious personality on the audience, she has a natural stage presence and her performance as excellent. She was well supported by Maria Studley, who made a good Dame Dotty Dimple, and I did like Katie Richardson as Piccalilli, Amy and Mollie worked well together playing Snatchet and Scarper and  Katie Gregory made a very nice Fairy Sugardust, I did enjoy your solo ballet.

Kyle Theobald as Rancid the Ratman did a good job as did John, Max, Toby and William ‘the black rats’. King Hubert and Queen Hyacinth looked very regal, well done Murray and Lucia and how we all loved Buttermilk, great job Lucy and Elisia you made us all laugh. What a super giant Josh Callon portrayed, very well done. Everyone was in the panto spirit, the younger performers scored and made their mark, one to look out for in the future is Reece Carter age 8, what a good Humphrey he made. All the villagers, fayre goers, giant’s henchmen, the golden harp and golden hen, well done to you all.

The pantomime moved along at a good pace with the predicted boos and cheers from the audience, the scenery was very good indeed, lots of colour and the scene changes were executed in a very efficient manner. The costumes were good and added to the overall effect as was sound and lighting. I also thought that the choice of music was perfect. Thank you for inviting me, I had a lovely evening with you all.

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