May The Farce Be With You

Space superhero, Luke Warmwater (David Hodgson) must thwart the evil plans of the evil Garth Invader, thereby saving the Galaxy from destruction. With the help of his two female robots, STROP and PMT, he is forced to seek refuge from the evil Lord Garth Invader (Huw Thomas) in Jack’s beanstalk – which is so large it is visible from outer space. Unfortunately the beanstalk is also inhabited by a blood thirsty Giant and his wife. Garth assisted by his army of Super Troopers No’s 1 to 16 we are taken from the planet of Zog to Earth where we meet the family of Dame Nelly, (Keith Bowden) and her handsome son Jack. Their main income is from there only asset Demi Mooer (The Cow) (Chloe Crawford & Ellie Black) Garth thinks his plans are going well until his daughter Ada Invader (Holly Whitehead) decides to join him him on his adventure.        

 Strop (Rachel Bowden) finds that she has been superseded by a newer model PMT. (Megan Beveridge) both dressed in shiny satin space suits. We then meet Luke who is hiding the secret plans that Garth has for world domination. They head to earth to hide from Garth and his army.

Our Villain, Garth succeeded in having the audience booing him for every entrance. The only person that can control him is his wife who rings him on the phone at some of the most inopportune moments to moan at him.   In true panto fashion Jack (Joe Burnett) climbs the beanstalk to make his fortune by raiding the giant’s castle. He is met by the giant’s wife (Louise McCourt) where she captures all and sundry for the giant to have as a tasty snack.  Although we never see the giant we hear his booming voice (Yiorgas Perris) which gives us in our minds a firm idea of his size and power. Down on earth Dame Nelly does her best in looking after her family and protecting Demi, the cow. Along the way we meet Annabelle who has fallen madly in love with our handsome hero Jack.  Annabel’s mother Lady Nipscrew (Sarah Murphy) tries at all times to spoil the romance between her daughter and Jack. With the support of all the Villagers who keep the action going with their singing and dancing this must be classed as a very modern twist on the Jack & The Beanstalk story. With a great help from all the technical crew who transformed this small venue in to the Planet Zog the audience all had a great night. Congratulations to one and all for a fabulous evening, At the interval I was very pleased to award 5 junior awards to members of the cast for good service to the company.

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