Knight Fever

‘Knight Fever’ by TLC Creative (a Lazy Bee script) is a hilarious pantomime romp through Arthurian England complete with knights, dragons a dotty dame and a damsel in distress.

The beautiful Kingdom of Camelot, home to King Arthur and his wife Guinevere, is a joyful, peaceful place full of people busily preparing for the arrival of Princess Anna who is visiting from The Country of Benidorm.  A young humble, stable boy, Justin Thyme (cue the jokes) is madly in love with her but, being a Princess, she can only marry a knight.  Justin, along with Lester the Jester, decides to enrol in ‘Knight School’ to become a fully-fledged knight of the Round Table and so secure the Princess’s affections.  However, there is trouble afoot with the evil Black Knight who wants to avenge himself on King Arthur.  Together with his sidekick Chardonay Le Fay he forms a plot to kidnap the Princess and throw Camelot into war. Can brave Justin accompanied by Dame Doris Dumpling and Lester rescue the Princess and restore peace to Camelot?

Lester the Jester, played by Hannah Hawkins, acted as master of ceremonies complete with the usual bad panto jokes and black and white jester motley.  I was impressed with her bubbly personality, her rapport with the audience and interactions with the other characters particularly Justin and the Dame.   Scarlett Rymer was a confident and dashing Principal Boy Justin with a longing to be a knight there were some lovely touching scenes with Princess Anna.  

Taya White as the Princess showed real comic timing with her cod Spanish accent. I particularly liked the delivery of her line borrowed from Dame Doris ‘make us a cuppa love, I could murder a curry, everything goes south by thirty’ and her asides to the audience.

Kindly King Arthur, played by a fellow Yorkie Tony Sutcliffe, was the butt of several of the knight jokes and his wife’s jibes but played his role with the gravitas of a gracious monarch.  He was ably assisted by his witty wife Guinevere (Julie Taylor) watching ‘Bayeaux Watch’ and mischievously calling Arthur ‘Arty’.  Merlin the Magician was played by Tony Jaques whose impressive projection and diction ensured that not a line was missed.

Then we come to the villains of the piece. The Black Knight played by Ryan Robotham, a character with a booming voice and dastardly laugh who I wouldn’t want to meet on a dark knight (sorry!) and his comedy sidekick Chardonay Le Fay played with impish delight by Debbie Hulks her hilarious expressive facial expressions had me giggling into my programme.

Last, but definitely not least, is delightfully dotty Dame Doris Dumpling played by Danny Gillingham. On the night we went, Danny had been surprised by a visit from some of his friends from his hometown.  His face when he came on stage was priceless and kudos to him for keeping it together.  His Doris was everything a dame should be with pneumatic boobs and a towering fluorescent green wig.  He also had an impressive set of vocals. I would have preferred a less squeaky voice as some lines were lost but this did not detract from his overall performance.

Special mention also to the ensemble who played various roles including knights, villagers, and mystical creatures. Linda Evans played a sparkly sequinned Lady of the Lake with an air of forgetfulness.  I was particularly impressed with the young lady who played the wolf and other parts as she stayed in character throughout.  Also, to the smallest chorus member who I noticed gave her all in every dance routine.

Staging was basic with a plain castle wall and painted forest back-drop, this minimalistic set left a huge area for the cast to perform on, so every character had room to move.  The props were simple but eye-catching especially Merlin’s flashing staff and the dragon costume.  The costumes provided by Cathy Sutcliffe and Lesley Wilson were appropriate to the storyline with ‘woollen chain mail’ for the knights. I especially loved Princess Anna’s dress with fur trimmed sleeves.

Lighting was provided by Mark Woodcock and Kevin Benstead with sound by Brian Williams.  The prompt was Cathy Sutcliffe who was also Co-Director.  The choice to have the prompt so visible was a strange choice but Cathy heartily embraced the opportunity to join in the banter with the cast! The front of house team was friendly and welcoming led by producer Lesley Wilson.

Well done to Director Laura Hickin, Producer Lesley Wilson and everyone involved on stage or back-stage for a funny entertaining show with lots of opportunity for audience participation and a sing song at the end.  Enjoy the rest of your run and it’s good Knight from me! (Last one I promise!)

 

 

 

 

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