Little Red Riding Hood

Strictly Panto have moved to a much bigger venue for this production penned by David Turner, and had good support from the local theatre goers. They kept the idea of having bean bags at the front of the auditorium for the younger members of the audience, which helps maintain it’s family friendly ambiance.

David’s script was current with local references, but the story of Little Red Riding Hood was very much incidental to the main thrust of the pantomime which was a spoof on “Britain’s got Talent”, so incidental in fact that by the end of the “Cambourne’s got Talent” section I had forgotten all about Granny Riding possibly being eaten by the big bad wolf. The jokes although funny, were a little laboured and so slowed the pace quite a bit. Most of the Panto elements were there, but this script needed a good deal of tightening up and a bit more pace and slickness.

The characters all blended quite well into the story, and were played well by all concerned. Anne Pettifor was very funny as Betty Swales, and Vanessa Turner as Spooner did a good job of remembering the correct order of her spoonerisms. Mike Richards could have been a little more over the top as Dame O’Leary, and perhaps not used the star glasses quite so much as they made it difficult to see. Guy Turner as her son Lermott O’Deary, was a very capable host and had good rapport with the audience, however he must try in future not to mouth the lines of the other actors, as this can be very distracting. Jo Ryan as Old Mrs Riding was great, Jo is a natural comedy actress and has great comic timing. Harry Butson as Barry Garlow did a good job of playing older than his years. All of the girls in the singing and dancing troupes delivered their lines with confidence and sang well,

I do think that, with the bigger stage at the College, the Choreography by Imogen McKay could have been a bit more adventurous. The younger members of cast in the Chorus all had a great time, and their enjoyment at being on stage was infectious.

Anne Pettifor & Vanessa Turner’s direction was well considered, but could have had a faster pace, as I have already mentioned above, but perhaps the script did not allow for it. Ben Parnell’s Musical Direction was very good, as was the percussion in the safe hands of Frank Graver.

It is always a joy to see the ingenuity of the set designers at Strictly Panto, and they didn’t disappoint this time. Phil Webb managed the team very well, and even accomplished some quite complicated scene changes, right before our very eyes, without disturbing the preceeding scene. I applaud the use of the projected backrop, however it didn’t quite work in this case as the position of the projector cast shadows on the image and obscured the actors faces. The sound was good with a few minor blips. The Lighting was fairly static and could have been a bit more varied with some added colour in the wash‘s. Strictly Panto are striving to become bigger and better, and I admire them for that, but they must keep their eye on the big picture in order to reach their goals.

All in all this Panto was a lot of fun, and much appreciated by the audience.

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