Mother Goose

 

I was delighted to see the opening night of Mother Goose along with a full house largely made up of Brownies and some Guides and once they became involved in the craziness of panto certainly made themselves heard much to the delight of the performers. Dronfield MTG are a well respected and established group still maintaining the principles of community with so many families involved at all stages of the production, be it on or off stage, set building , making costumes. The list is endless. 

Under the guidance, vision and knowledge of Andrea Powell as producer and choreographer along with your totally committed and experienced Musical Director Judith Haywood making a formidable production team providing the tools for the talented cast members to develop. Mother Goose, one of the old time classic pantomimes, the goose saving the day by laying the golden egg. Thinking of new ideas, comedy sketches, song choice and dance movement isn’t easy. Most people know the stories of Pantomime but giving that something different is a skill. Larger than life characterizations, over the top costumes and the ability to portray such craziness is the foundation of a good panto. The production team did all that and more, and then you need actors to carry out the directions, sing the songs, entertain the audience and get the booing and cheering going. Stage left we find one of the baddies, The Demon King by Sara Betts , a powerful performance winding up the audience at every opportunity, lovely acting , clear delivery of lines and many cameo scenes with various actors, magic mirror to name but one , and the many good versus bad when interacting with the Fairy Queen played by Fiona Adlington , the stage right good and heavenly Queen, with a smile ensuring good wins over evil with well delivered clear lines keeping the story telling moving through the scenes . Silly Billy performed by Rachel Cooper Bassett as the name implies this larger than life character , a large part carried out to the highest order, never dropping the character with so many great scenes,. The way you organised and introduced that massive on going scene involving so many costume changes for the Dame , startingwith the meals on wheels trolley and so on , very clever. Mother Goose’s daughter, Mary performed by Lily Ward, the princess part, lovely character part with memorable scenes with Trevor The Squire’s nephew, Goldie the Goose, singing on the wall scene, interactions with Mother Goose , the tapping dance ,well delivered clear lines and more. The Squire’s Nephew , Trevor performed by Julie Ballin, another great character part involved in many memorable scenes , interaction with Mary , the Prince winning the Princesses hand , falling for Mary whilst opposing the devious Squire, not forgetting the traditional thigh slapping . Squire Pennypinch by Richard Gilson , involved in so many scenes , desperate to steal the Golden Goose to make his fortune, removing all Mother Goose’s house possessions, the craziness of the bare leg dance number along with many cameo moments . Snatchit by Cara Chester and Grabbit , a shared part performed equally by Zea Hutchinson and Emma Hazlehurst . These two actors having four performances each. We saw Emma on the Friday evening and sorry to not see Zeabut I’m sure both will have performed excellently working with the very experienced Cara Chester. What a wonderful opportunity to take shared roles in performing comedy duets for both these young actors. The comedy duo involved in so many sections of the panto fed of each other very well, they certainly lit up the stage with their combined antics, well done. Goldie the Gouse by Ellie Ashmore a very different role this year, but you mastered the movement and head /neck reactions well, with well timed delivery of the varying eggs. A clever scene going from chocolate, to rugby and Kinder eggs,but not the golden one the Squire desperately wanted. Great fun. I hope you didn’t hurt yourself when falling?

The musical South Pacific featured a song titled …. There is nothing like a Dame …..and Mother Goose performed by Gavin Ward , the Dame of the Pantomime you had that in bucket loads, the all involved, all action, full on ,over the top performer. From arriving on a bike, winding up the audience to your antics through so so many scenes, the opening one going through more costume changes all under of the varying guise of helping people. Your role should have come with a full risk assessment not only for you but all those around you ,not least poor Mary when you both ended up in a heap.  Your experience and skill of working the audience was a joy along with setting such a high standard for the many younger members to aspire to, really outstanding. The magic mirror, under the water scene, bench scene, song on the wall and so much more.

During the production there were many smaller cameos performed by Charlie Betts, Aaron Sweet, Daniel Lloyd, Harry Welsby, Seth Turnell, Evie Welsby, Charlotte Adlington, Oscar Aspinall, Lindsay Ashmore and Florence Pendlebury. Lovely to see so many people having the opportunity to take these roles and delivering well. The young ensemble all performed well and should be pleased with the results they achieved. I was really impressed when ensemble groups were waiting on stage prior to some of the group numbers I heard no noise at all and the minute the curtain opened the characters were clear to see. Lovely dancing and singing all adding to a great evening. One small point when not using mics is to remember to avoid speaking up stage whenever possible and maintaining clarity which 99% of the time you all did,

The sets were well thought out adding moments of humour as the house set swayed when opening and closing the door, a sterling effort by all the team The sound and lighting workedwell , clearly heard along with well-timed sound effects, and the mini orchestra played well throughout. The costumes were great fun and fitting to the scenes. So many memorable aspects to this, but to name a few , the UV scene, under the water , the  tap number, singsong, the torch scenes and much more. This is a wonderful evening or true old-fashionedentertainment and if you haven’t bought your tickets, please do.

Thank you once again for the hospitality and greeting we receive. Enjoy the rest of the run sending your audiences home with a smile on their face and warmth in their heart

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