Calamity Dame

It has been nearly 2 years since I last saw a pantomime, so it was lovely to see Mawdesley Amateur Dramatic Society once again entertaining the people of Mawdesley with their original pantomime production “Calamity Dame” written by Adrian Barradell, Directed by Molly Rogers, Assisted by Adrian Barradell and Produced by Irvin Wright with Musical Director Judi Blakemore and Choreographer Lorraine Ryan. 

Set-in the town of Deadgood in the Wild West of Lancashire where the Saloon is owned by the indomitable Dame Jane Calamity, excellently played by Phil Quinn who had a very good rapport with the audience getting laughs as soon as he walked on the stage. The story sees scheming Mayor Baddun Adrian Barradell, who got lots of loud boos from the audience, desperately trying to get his hands on the town Gold Mine with the help of his two comedic sidekicks Doolittle (Olivia Smallshaw) and the bit dim Doolally (Hilda Mcaughey). But, unfortunately for him, a girl called Kate, who has just arrived in town, has inherited the mine from her Uncle Henry.  So, to get his hands on the deeds, Mayor Baddun hatches a plan to trick the two inept Pony Express Riders Butch ( Laura Tingle) and Cassidy (Will Lloyd), into handing over the deeds of the mine to his henchmen who then pass them on to him. He decides to lure Kate to the mine planning to blow up the entrance so she is trapped inside hoping to tie up all the loose ends. However trapped in the mine with Kate and her friends is not so dead Uncle Henry (Clive Hepplestone) who has been hiding in the mine and knows another way out. So luckily in the end the mine is saved from the clutches of Mayor Baddun and the town can celebrate with a concert in the Saloon. Kate (Jolene Poole) was helped in her efforts to save the mine by Jesse James (Rory Pool) and his gang which included Tex (Finlay Quinn), Polly (Rebecca Roe) Tom (Finley Henty) and Wyatt (Josh Quinn) who all played their roles with lots of enthusiasm and were a hit with the audience. I must also congratulate these young people on their clear dialogue and the gang for the good clear delivery of their jokes. Another friend who helped save the day was Billy, energetically played by Peter Rogers, who gave us a very enjoyable rendition of Tom Jones 'Delilah'. Then there were Kate’s fellow workers at the saloon, Annie (Gail Addison Harris) and Mary (Christine Willis). We were also treated to an enjoyable tap dance from Lorraine Ryan and Jo Jenkinson, although it turned out they were in the wrong show.

Generally, dialogue was clear and could be followed, but to be constructive there were times when some of the cast stumbled over their lines and there were also a number of prompts resulting in some silent pauses which slowed the action down and some of the punch lines were lost. However, remember Pantomime is a very good genre for ad-libbing in order to cover these occasions which then helps to keep up the momentum of the show and can be very funny and an audience pleaser if done with confidence. However all the cast appeared to be enjoying themselves and also worked hard together to make sure the audience were entertained.

There were two excellent sets designed by Alan Rowe and Tony McAughey which along with good lighting and sound, and suitable Costumes which were provided by the cast all enhanced and added to the authenticity of the production - congratulations to all set painters, props, backstage workers and  stage crew who all work proficiently.

Well done for all your hard work to everyone involved in bringing this production to the stage, especially in these trying times where things are unpredictable and cast members are unable to perform at the last minute.  The audience appeared to enjoy themselves by their reaction the night I visited, which is the most important thing when performing a pantomime. So thank you very much for inviting us, we had a very nice entertaining evening.

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