Mother Goose

Although I had seen one of their plays in July, this was my first experience of a Rowntree Players’ pantomime.  I had been told to expect a treat and indeed it was.

The first note of the prologue from the excellent orchestra set a couple of large glitter balls turning above the stalls, bringing an immediate “wow” from the audience. All ages were there.  Behind me were members of a youth group planning to perform on this same stage in a few weeks’ time and elsewhere in the stalls, we later learned, was a group celebrating the 80th birthday of one of them.

The writer/director was quick to point out in his programme note that this pantomime is a bit light on plot, just a story of the grass being considered greener elsewhere. Here, in a nutshell (or should it be egg-shell?), Mother Goose aspires to a stage career, is imprisoned in darkest Doncaster and is ultimately rescued by a fairy. In between all sorts of things happen, providing opportunities for some sparkling numbers involving most of the cast and some witty alternative lyrics to some familiar songs.

Gemma McDonald as Jack (Mother Goose’s son) was the first to appear and immediately established a close rapport with the audience. As one of the writers, presumably she is partly to blame that it is her character who suffers most of the misadventures, not least amongst which is being fired through a cannon, only to re-appear seconds later at the front of the auditorium. Earlier, a scene in Jack’s bedroom where the character is too hungry to sleep leads to the “Breakfast tango”, a wonderful spoof of the “Cell-block tango” from “Chicago”, with all the items you would expect in a full English re-creating the famous Fosse moves. Choreographer Ami Carter and her dancers are to be congratulated on the excellent way in which they tackled this and several other lively numbers.  These were colourful and at times quite spectacular.   

Michael Cornell soon aroused the sympathy of the audience as Mother Goose seeking pastures new after her hens seem to suffer a difficulty with egg production reminiscent of Manchester City’s current inability to score goals. A fine performance of the song “Nobody” from “Betty Blue Eyes” followed a rather abject dismissal of her show business aspirations by the villainous Demon Darkheart (a.k.a.Double D) and his assistant, Bob Bingalong.                                Jamie and Laura McKeller clearly enjoyed themselves in these parts, soon arousing the necessary noises of disapproval from the audience. Jack has a sister (Jill, of course) who seeks to capture the heart of neighbour Kev, the thigh-slapping farmer and King of kale. Laura Castle and Sara Howlett provided excellent support in these roles, making the most of their involvement in the story.  Kev’s agricultural background provided an opportunity for the “Combine Harvester” song and their efforts to promote the healthy combination of eggs and kale introduced a superb number with appropriately green costumes and lighting.  Abbey Follansbee as Priscilla the goose added to the fun as her golden eggs made her the object of Double D’s thieving intentions. In the end, even he fell victim to the poetic charms of Fairy Frittata, in which role        Holly Smith appeared as the Tesco Tennyson, pyrotechnics greeting her every entrance. She it was who ensured that prisoners were freed and all, villain included, lived happily ever after, but not before imprisonment of most of the principals in the dungeon led to an amusing exchange about overcrowding in our prisons. The agricultural theme had us yodelling to the tune of “the lonely goatherd” in the obligatory sing-a-long and there was even a line about what “people in Wetwang playing golf” heard.    An enthusiastic group of six youngsters (blue team at the performance I attended) gave further support.

Recalling the “slosh” scene, this time involving the baking of a cake, I would add that the writers had put together an excellent story, some amusing situations and lines with an entertaining collection of songs, all the necessary ingredients for a successful pantomime.  All of this would be wasted were it not for the hard work of a huge number of back-stage workers, providing colourful costumes and some excellent scenery. Set construction and stage crew alone needed a team of 14.  Eight were in the orchestra pit providing a good sound to support the singers as well as some interesting themes to cover scene changes.

Searching for one word with which to sum up the whole production, I need look no further than the back page of the programme where I find an advert for their next play. It’s called “Glorious!”. So was this.                          

 

          

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.