Little Red Riding Hood
Information
- Date
- 30th March 2017
- Society
- Catworth Amateur Theatrical Society (CATS)
- Venue
- Catworth Village Hall
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Director
- Scott Millington
- Musical Director
- Gerald Ward
I was warmly welcomed into Catworth Village Hall on the opening night of their tenth pantomime production. The stage was set with beautifully painted scenery depicting the forest of Dark Wood and a couple of lurking wolves. Stage right was a kitchen scene with a painted Aga - but in place of the usual Aga logo was our NODA one instead! A lovely touch and very much appreciated - and this attention to detail set the precedent for the rest of the production.
This laugh-a-minute pantomime was penned and directed by Scott Millington who also took on the role of traditional pantomime dame with a twist, Nigella Hood. Well written, with plenty of topical jokes, the cast kept the audience entertained to the end. There were some great characters, cleverly named, each one playing a key role in the plot. Ruth’s Murphy’s Red Riding Hood, with a wonderfully plum English accent, was a surprise and a delight - and I particularly liked the introduction of unexpected characters such as Nigella Hood and her rivals Heston Lupus with his son Marcus. Played by Steve Kaye and Phil Ward respectively, they captured the comedy of these roles beautifully and when Heston broke into the first song of the evening with re-written lyrics to “Nobody Does It Better” we knew that we were in for a great night. Marcus’ pairing with food hygiene inspector Miranda, well played by Liz Murphy, led to a comedy duet later on which was beautifully trilled with great confidence and had the audience in stitches.
Gwendolyn, played by Jayne Kaye, kept us entertained with her lute and wistful ditties, whilst the evil Sir Peter Borrow (aka the Sheriff of Peterborough), Nick Grantham, gave the audience a reason to boo and hiss loudly at his dastardly antics. Nick was superb in this role, with just the right amount of pantomime villain and some wonderfully wicked diction. Granny Hood, Belinda Moore, along with the two ramblers played by Rachel and Emma McCreath, all looked the part and portrayed their characters well, with Granny Hood’s cake song a great addition to the piece.
And now to the wolf and the two wolf hunters who were all an absolute delight! Mr Grey (the Wolf), wonderfully portrayed by Paul Goodyer, made the audience love him and hate him at the same time. He was evil, whilst still being so intriguing as to pull you in. It was a shame that the cast were all given a named character, apart from Wolf Hunter One and Wolf Hunter Two. Young performers Peter Millington and Joe Daniel excelled in these roles, definitely worthy of better names, and played their characters with confidence - well done boys, you were fantastic!
Finally, our band of merry men (and women) led by Robin Hood, brother of Little Red of course! Julie Daniel was a natural here and shone with confidence - I would even say take it a step further next time, don’t be afraid to ham it up in panto. A great character, very well played. Vertically Challenged John (Stuart Rupp), Alana A Dale And A Meadow (Pippa Ellson) and Agnostic Tuck (Richard Reynolds) were again all great characters and each one took on their roles beautifully. Alana’s madrigals were wonderfully entertaining for all the wrong reasons and both Tuck and John were visually perfect and played their parts well. The merry men’s rendition of Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi was a brilliant addition!
It is often the case that performers in pantomimes are required to sing, perhaps a pop song, a big belter or a comedy number which has been written into the piece that they may feel is not within their range. I would say that the most important thing here is to ‘go for it’! Shaky vocals or quiet, under-confident singing leaves the audience feeling nervous, as we wonder whether you are going to make it to the end. This is not musical theatre, it is pantomime, and as such you can afford to relax and have a good old sing-song - we would rather see you singing out and enjoying yourself than be worried that you are under rehearsed or lacking in confidence. If we lack confidence in your ability it makes us nervous too and spoils our enjoyment, so smile and sing out, especially on any solos! Let’s put this down to opening night nerves this time.
This brings me on to the look and feel of the whole production which would not have looked out of place in a proper theatre setting. It is a shame that the local village hall was not sold out, although I am sure that the weekend performances would have been busier - opening night midweek can often be the quietest evening. The production values were high, with great scenery, fabulous costumes and wonderful attention to detail throughout.
Huge congratulations must go to the costume and make up department, Jenny Pawling, Cathy Goodyer, Cynthia Church, Charlotte Wilson and Jenny Green. The costumes were all worthy of a professional theatre company with every last detail taken care of and were a lovely unexpected surprise in such a small venue. I particularly liked Mr Grey’s wolf costume - reminiscent of Johnny Depp in Into The Woods - his high healed paws were superb! Heston Lupus’ wolf T-shirt under his chef’s jacket was a nice touch, the wolf hunters’ costumes were great and their make up was a great addition - and our two lady ramblers looked as though they had been pulled through a hedge backwards at the end! Plaudits must go to all involved in this aspect of the production for their professionalism - very well done!
The set too was a delight in such a small space and the forest of Dark Wood, Nigella’s kitchen, Heston’s restaurant and the Granny Hood’s kitchen were all cleverly revealed behind folding panels. Andrew Moore, Paul Hughes, Justine Hughes and Stuart Rupp did a fantastic job of producing these four sets in a very limited space and with no room in the wings for storage. Unfortunately the kitchen table and chairs had to be brought on and off a lot and I wonder if this could have been done more smoothly as it did slow the scene changes down unnecessarily. I am assured that this was rectified for the rest of the run however. Music, provided throughout by Gerald Ward on keys and Brenda Stewart on the violin, was great and a welcome distraction during these clumpy scene changes but a couple of extra stage hands would have sped things up considerably. It was also unfortunate that we had to see one of the Wolf Hunters as he helped with the scene changes, before we had been introduced to him on the stage, thus spoiling the surprise. Next time some swift ‘men in black’ to change the set smoothly and quickly during blackout would make all the difference, as this for me, let an otherwise excellent piece of theatre down.
On the whole this was a great production, with lighting (Paul Murphy), props and live music all contributing to a professional looking piece of theatre and some good performances from all on stage. A thoroughly enjoyable evening - thank you CATS!
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