Jack & The Beanstalk

There is nothing more warming on a cold December night than a great panto and High Green Musical Theatre Group certainly had one when they performed Jack & The Beanstalk.

This got off to a great start with the hit number Shut Up & Dance with the full company joining in.

The story started with Mother Nature, the fairy of the piece, played expertly by Lyndsay Lindley, who in true panto style delivered her lines in rhyme throughout and was every bit the goody two shoes.

As with all pantos, where there is a good fairy there is also a bad one, in this case Fleshcreep. This part was originally given to David Barber, however due to a family bereavement David was unable to continue therefore this part was taken over by Rachel Marshall who also directed this too, the company need have no worries as Rachel was able to make this part her own, I was told she had used the book earlier in the week, however when I went she managed to take this on without any book in sight.

Mother Nature has a pet, a Beaver who was played by Becki Gregory who was excellent, taking in every double-entendre about Mother Nature’s beaver needing trimming etc.

Ben Shipman played the title character of Jack, and he was out of this world, he worked so hard each and every time he entered the stage and the audience loved him through and through.

As usual we had a panto dame in this piece, Dame Dolly Trot played by Jonney Glaves who collaborated really well with Ben to make a fantastic double act.

Another character was that of The Cow played by Eliza Lambert, on the night I was there, however, this was also played by Douglas Sharman-Wright and  who entered the stage each time on a scooter, she did not have any lines to say but she certainly made her mark.

As with all good pantos we had a Squire who was played by Alan Kay, who was more than ably assisted by 98-year-old Harvey Kay, who was able to deliver every line with a crystal-clear voice which could be heard everywhere in the theatre.

 Almost every actor on stage had a part to play and they did it with ease which only added to the overall enjoyment, which was experienced by all, especially the younger members of the audience.

As we all know Jack climbs the beanstalk which has grown from the beans which Jack received when he sold the Cow, here they used an inflatable beanstalk which I have to say worked really well, most of the time until Jack chops it down, when this happened there appeared to be a scramble to get it to deflate, however this didn’t detract from the enjoyment.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this piece, especially Rachel for stepping up and taking on the part of Fleshcreep at very short notice.

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