Mother Goose

Our first pantomime of this season, and it was lovely to see a traditional production, with double entendres, junior chorus and plenty of audience participation.  Also nice to see Mother Goose, a different story and not run-of-the-mill.

A big ask for the Director to both direct and play a role, not something I’d advocate on a regular basis, but I think Mr Howell acquitted himself well on both counts. 

The sets worked well, and scene changes were kept to a minimum. The two rose arches used in front of tabs at the beginning, were very charming, and made a second appearance at the end.  Props were very good too.

I liked the fact that Jill and Colin were mic’d, as although they sang well they didn’t necessarily have the strongest of voices, so this reassured them that they would be heard, and allowed them to be more expressive I thought. Good approach David to be so thoughtful towards your cast.

Lighting enhanced the feel of the piece, along with the MD at the piano and keyboard, it makes such a difference to have a majority of live music rather than backing tracks, and it made the ensemble numbers more interesting.

I liked the costumes, and thought the Goose particularly was excellent.  The three adult fairies costumes were very good, particularly Discord’s, with the two good fairies very sparkly.  The principal’s jackets for the men and Colin were very striking. 

The junior ensemble all performed really well, I liked the introduction with the fairy ballet, a good start.  All in all the choreography was simple – but worked well and everyone looked as if they were enjoying themselves.

I felt the words did not always flow as they should, which affected the pace at times, but all in all everyone kept their characters well and I enjoyed their interaction with the audience.

Hilary Violentano and Maureen Wallis as the Fairy Queen  and Fairy Harmony looked the part and delivered their rhyming lines well, whilst Lucy Goodchild as the bad Fairy Discord, was suitably wicked, so we all enjoyed booing her!

A very rousing rendition of an English Country Garden featuring converse circles of junior and adult ensemble was good, and I liked the dance of Discord’s minions, very atmospheric.  The opening of Act 2 was a little ragged, but the youngsters kept smiling!

I was very taken with Benita Gilliam as Priscilla the Goose – it just goes to show that you don’t have to speak or be seen to make an impact – the head movements and legs were just great – very well done!  I also liked the sound effects for the laying of her golden eggs!

Clive Crowther gave a very creditable performance as Billy, very silly, but got the audience on his side with Harpenden the bear, and asked for our action right from the start, I enjoyed his performance.  I was also very impressed with his fall from the school bench, he accomplished it well.

Katy Cameron and Becky Vernon-Clinch formed a very good relationship as Jill and Colin – Colin looked after Jill, and they felt right together.  It is always difficult to get the right feeling as the two young lovers, but they created very good personas, and kept them going throughout.

Another good partnership was Mario Violentano and Jordan Davis as Sage and Onions, the bailiffs/henchmen, again good interaction, delivering some very funny lines well.

The nasty old Squire Creep was played by a very ebullient Andy Turner, he always gives such effort and clarity to his portrayal, and we definitely liked making our disapproval of his methods known in the traditional fashion!

Mother Goose was a good character for David Howell, very different to what we are used to seeing him do – but he carried off the slightly whacky portrayal well, giving us some memorable moments and wigs, including a striptease and Big Spender routine. I especially liked his wig with the curlers!

The junior ensemble performed really well, very animated and they projected well, so that we heard everything they said.  The Goosebusters - Evan Ingram, Rosie and Jessica Willis - performed with confidence and assurity, very well done.

Overall a very enjoyable pantomime, with all the traditional elements, and some old but still funny jokes, making it a good evening’s entertainment, which I hope was successful on all fronts.

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