Jack and the Beanstalk

The Theatre was filled to capacity as an excited audience of children and adults looked forward to a grand evening’s performance. They were not disappointed.  The curtain opened onto the country lane where we met Dave Cosgrove, playing the aptly named ugly Fleshcreep, and Helen Elliot, as the delightful Fairy.  They introduced the audience to the story, and encouraged everyone to join in by singing, booing, hissing, cheering and above all else, laughing, which they certainly did very well.  Chris Young, as Dame Trott, entertained us well with his rendition of “In the Dairy” to a well-known tune, moving on to have a great deal of fun with Daisy the Cow, played by Vicky Sloan and Emily Grant.  The story continued with Nicola Shenton, as Jack, and Amy Cosgrove, as Jill, entertaining the Audience with a pleasant duet.   In due course Daisy the Cow went to market, and was sold for the proverbial gold which turned out to be exploding beans.  A lot of effort was put into getting the beanstalk to grow.  I would like to have seen Jack starting to climb the beanstalk, but stage space prevented this happening.

The comedy continued in the second half with Fleshcreep singing “Superman” with an Elvis lookalike in the shape of Ian Mills, as the Squire, and Dame Trott.  Much play was made of the giant’s parlour and dungeon, with Jill singing nicely.  Stuart McVeigh played the part of Blunderbore the Giant very well dressed in an appropriate costume.  A lot of brightly costumed young persons from the “Stage School of Dance” danced beautifully, being rewarded with applause from the audience.  I would like to add that, on exiting the theatre, I did hear a number of the audience commenting on how much they had enjoyed the show and the quality of dancing.  Music on piano and keyboards was arranged and provided by Dave Malpas, backed up on drums and percussion by Phil Smith.  They made an excellent duo and contributed greatly to the magic of the production.

Finally, I must apologise for the lateness of this report –blame the dreaded “Bug”.

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