Mother Goose

Thank you, Thank You Christy Hinchcliff (Director) for giving us a good old traditional panto. I absolutely loved it!!!T his Mother Goose was directed as a panto should be: no big sets, simple but effective costumes, no huge golden eggs. No gimmicks. Plenty of one liners. Very nice choreography by Ellen Hinchcliff. Lighting/Sound designed by Roger Davis and Lindsey Dale were spot on. Along with good music by advisor Lucie Nash. 

Edward Evans as Smoge was in control and he worked his audience, this young man certainly took control, perfect in this role of the baddy. Along with Susan Beer as Fairy Aurora this pair bounced off one another. Susan gave us a solid performance and her acting and singing were uppermost. Mother Goose, John McCrae: what a performance!! This man played this iconic role just like a dame should be TRADITIONAL no big hair no big costumes. Pure joy to watch (reminding me of Mrs Shufflewick). John is an actor of quality and only an actor of his calibre could take on this role and play a dame as it should be. Well done, John. 

A strong powerful performance from David Jordan, David gave us Baron Rumpensmakka with an incredible loud accent, I could hear every word and along with Dave Turner as Gonk this pairing was unforgettable. Heidi the Goose Mel Bickham and Freya Goose Emily Daye gave us some great moments of gooseness, lovely Quack Quack (clap) girls. Supporting these were smaller roles that made this Goose so much fun and they were Sven Grace Longstaff, The Grand High Goose Theresa Rowlstone, Cuckoo Clock Oli Conway, Moose Peter Morgan, Boss Snowman Chris Hutson and of course the snowmen Anne Beer, Amanda Gerrard, and Vicky Wilsher. Ensemble players Rachel Bowell, Marion Clayton, Marta Hawrylow, Sophie Kelleher, Gil Lennard, Andrew Linford. Amy Harrington as Stage Manager and her Crew swiftly moved this Mother Goose along nicely.

I wished other societies would give us pantos like this one at the Playhouse this year (not that I don’t like the others) - I chuckled all the way though, and the kids in the audience loved it as I did.

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