Little Mermaid

It was a chilly evening at Horning Village Hall, warmed by the nice welcome from the Director/Writer Scott Meacock and the Front of House team. My mermaid tail, full of sweets was an added bonus. The walls of the Hall had been beautifully decorated with some under water scenes painted by the company and with help from the local art group.

To introduce this Hans Christian Anderson tale is Tri-Tina (Julie Barker) resplendent in her mermaid costume and with enchanted trident in hand, she relayed proceedings in a clear and animated way. Her nemesis, Octavia (Gemma Farrell), the eight-legged sea monster gave us a strong acting and singing performance. Her costume looked amazing and moved very cleverly.

On dry land the Royal Looking family, OK (Derek Ayley), Pretty (Marion Jackson) and their son Handsome (Tom Corfield) are trying to find a suitable bride for Handsome. Ok and Pretty gave us some laughs and Handsome provided the love interest, looking every part the leading man.

It is at this stage, that we meet The Little Mermaid (Michelle Lake), this long serving member of the company brought her experience to the part and made every little girl in the audience wish they were her. She has several friends under the sea and one of the closest is Crabulous (Josh Cook). This lovable crab had us all shouting, his energy on stage was rewarded by the audience reaction every time he came on. She has two mermaid rivals Bold (Karen Humphrey) and Surf (Mary Cook), who appear to be slightly jealous of Little Mermaid. Another of her close friends is Coy (Jane Bowden), who, wearing another fabulous costume, tries to help whenever she can, but usually fails. Underwater , Octavia, has two sidekicks and obviously they are jellyfish, Fish (Lynette Foreman) and Chip (Pam Facey). These two wobbly characters gave us some really amusing moments as they had their one-to-one conversations and rarely doing what they were told because being jellyfish they just drifted off in a different direction.

When Handsome is smitten with the sirens singing he needs a boat to find where the voice is coming from, and who would be a natural choice to take charge of the ship but Captain Birds Eye (Tony Dent) and his motley crew. On board and showing their extensive Panto experience, David Ivens as the Chef, and Robin Baines as Piff the Puffin, gave the audience some classic comic scenes. Also, on board the ship is Handsomes’ dog (Masie Haydon), it is great to see the younger members of the group learning some useful Panto skills.

As usual with HATS productions there is a large adult ensemble, and the juniors seem to multiply every year. They all sing and dance enthusiastically and almost every time they came on to the stage they were wearing a different costumes.

Director Scott Meacock and Musical Director, Holly Hancock, must have been delighted with the performance and the almost full auditorium was proof that all is well with HATS panto.

I must also say a big well done for the costumes in the show (Lucy Meacock and team), they were stunning, and the professional looking scenery just added to the overall effect.

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noda owns the intellectual Property Rights to the content of all show reports written by Noda Councillors, Representatives and Assistant Representatives.  

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.