Mother Goose

‘Mother Goose’ is a morality tale of good and evil where the evil demon king tries to corrupt the charitable and kindly Gloria Goose by giving her beauty which makes her vain and selfish.  Written by Kei Bailey and directed and produced by Laura Davies with Kei Bailey as Assistant Director, this traditional panto has been given an intergalactic twist by having Priscilla the goose come from the planet Gander, resulting in the whole cast taking a journey into space to rescue her. 

Kelly Warran was wonderful as Mother Goose’s son, Buddy.  Dressed in bright rainbow dungarees and cute freckles, she had the audience in the palm of her hand from her very first entrance, with her comic asides and physical comedy, she also demonstrated excellent comic timing and good vocals participating in many of the musical numbers.  Well done too for carrying on despite nearly choking on a biscuit!

David O’Brien played Professor Whimsy showcasing his comedy skills as he produced his various inventions including a light up toilet which he demonstrated to eruptions of giggles from the audience. 

Newcomer Ellie-Mae Robinson played the part of Mother Goose’s daughter Rose who had a secret crush on the squire’s son.  Ellie had a beautiful singing voice shown in her duet with Ben, and she brought a sense of gravitas to her role which worked well against the other more madcap characters. 

No principal boy in this pantomime but the love interest was provided by Ben Green as Colin who was terrified of his father, the squire, finding out about Rose.  Ben performed well in duets and some dance routines but I felt his best scenes were on the Starship SS Compromise where he showed his comic side in a funny take on a Captain Kirk style voice over. 

I loved Joanne Moules as the hypochondriac accident-prone fairy Collywobbles complete with an authentic Yorkshire accent and an allergy to goose feathers.  She also showed good comic-timing, and her deadpan delivery made her character even funnier. 

Kei Bailey gave another polished performance as the Panto Dame, Gloria Goose with his assortment of colourful themed outfits he bantered with the audience (even dropping in a Noda reference) and worked well with the other characters especially Buddy showing good comic timing.  I loved his facial expressions and his change to the glamorous, but vain and shallow Gloria, was very well done.  

Stuart Wyle was wonderful as the dastardly Demon King Lord Malignum with his tongue firmly in his cheek, he was gloriously camp and dripped sarcasm which he used to mercilessly torment the audience.  My favourite parts were when he was caught in the act dancing to ‘Better the Devil’  by Steps - back to the audience, gyrating to the music until, to his horror, he realises he is being watched and then tries to brazen it out also his dance with his minions featuring some very clever rapping and lots of contemptuous eye rolling. 

Other characters provided comic cameos including Craig Pakes as the dour Squire Skinflint determined to evict Mother Goose from her tumble-down cottage and the pair of hapless bailiffs sent to carry out the task.  The village also had its very own WI group, led by Kim Rayner as Hilda Bunting and the ditzy Mavis Doyley (played by Emma Hoare) which provided some comedy moments.  Highlights were their euphemistic rendition of ‘Jerusalem’ and the ladies (including Mother Goose) performing as Spice Rack a tribute to the Spice Girls.

The blue and yellow colour scheme throughout was reflected in the brightly painted set featuring geese and golden eggs and also in the backdrops featuring Mother Goose’s cottage and a village scene including the Feathers Pub.  The space scene was well created with dangling dayglo planets and sparkles created by the rotating mirror ball.  Light and smoke effects were used well in the Pool of Eternal Beauty and themed lighting was used effectively with red lights to represent the evil character of the Demon King. 

Props were generally used well such Professor Whimsey’s light-up toilet and the flashing space console.  A tea trolley was used by the WI, however one small note, on the tables there were cardboard teacups and saucers and a teapot which as the trolley was used to distribute teacups to the ladies, seemed unnecessary.  I would have also liked to see saucers with the teacups - a small detail but one I did notice again another reference to the uppity nature of the WI ladies looking down on Mother Goose.

Choreography (provided by Kelly Warran) was good with the ensemble performing a routine as Space Cadets to ‘Final Countdown’ and the principles performing a lively version of ‘Tailfeather’ with Mavis Doyley (Emma) strutting her funky dance moves! Music choices were appropriate and helped tell the story. 

Costumes were on the whole good, especially Kei’s own personal range of stunning frocks - I lost count of the number of costume changes! Professor Whimsey sported a white lab coat and mad-professor grey wig and the squire looked the part in plus fours and deer stalker hat.  The fairy had thick goggle glasses and a bent wand to represent her ditzy character.  The demon king was resplendent in red, and I loved the little touches such as his ruby topped cane and KING in diamante.  The WI ladies wore different coloured jackets and sported colourful hats (even in space!) I would, however, have liked to see them wearing long skirts rather than black leggings as that would have added to their image as the village ladies who thought they were superior to everyone.  Their spice girl outfits however were spot on. Priscilla the goose (Zachary O’Brien) was so gorgeously fluffy you wanted to jump on stage and cuddle her!

It was lovely to meet Laura during the interval to hear about her overall vision for the show, and a chance to meet and greet the cast after the performance.

The detailed and informative programme meets all the required criteria and will be entered into the Noda programme competition. 

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