Little Red Riding Hood

This year’s Grundisburgh Panto was written by Debbie Osborne, a familiar face from Deben Players. It kept to the story of the traditional fairy tale and was packed with amusing scenes, corny jokes and all the usual elements that make up a family panto. To keep it in the family her husband Darin directed and amongst the cast was their son Sam. He played the evil, villainous Hemlock who along with his henchman Sprout, ( Brian Hunt) were determined to capture Red Riding Hood and spoil the villagers celebrations. It’s up to Peter to save the day and defeat Hemlock.  The talented Sam Harvey was Peter who played the role with bags of good humour, energy and enthusiasm and kept the pace with her comedy asides to the audience.

The title role of Red was beautifully portrayed with a charming innocence by Amy Adams whilst  Charlotte Crown confidently played the strong character,  Prince Jasper, who gets turned into the bad Wolf. Nikki Brown looking gorgeous in her diaphanous costume was the good fairy Sequoia and it is up to her to save the day.  There were two amusing Dames and we meet Red’s mother Priscilla played by Ian Frost and David Cranwell as her Grandmother, both offering strong comedic performances. Two further, very comical characters were two dogs, Fifi and Brutus.  Clearly Kate Adams was enjoying and excelled in her role of Fifi  and Darin Osborne gave an excellent partnership performance as Brutus. I must add at this point that Grundisburgh had not had  the best of luck with this Panto with three of the original cast having to drop out through ill health or accidents and thanks were given to Nikki Brown, Sam Harvey and to the Director, Darin Osborne for stepping in at the last minute and learning their lines with just a couple of weeks rehearsal time.  Even the script writer, Debbie had stepped into in one scene for a brief  appearance as The Squirrel. Very well done to all of them in saving the day, much to GADS’ relief.

The rest of the cast including the junior chorus were enthusiastic in their performances with the Juniors performing a delightful Maypole dance. There were several other, well chosen, song and dance musical numbers, many of which were confidently performed adding to our enjoyment.

The stage, built prior to adding the creative set, created a serene woodland ambiance enhanced by birdsong which was further enhanced by the colourful costumes and delightful incidental music. The television scene in particular was excellent and innovative.

Well done to Darin and all the cast and crew for successfully pulling this one off despite all the challenges. We and your audience thoroughly enjoyed it and were right behind you with our support.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.