Old King Cole

Old King Cole a pantomime performed by St Michael’s Amateur Dramatic Society on Saturday, 18th January, 2025 at St Michael's Parish Hall, Shaw Street, Wigan.

Once again, St Michael’s were blessed with another well written script penned by their very own esteemed member Ian Field.  Ian has been writing pantomimes for many many years now and this was just another family orientated pantomime script for members to get their teeth into. Old King Cole is a well-known English Nursery Ryme from the early 1700’s. There’s a great deal of speculation about who Old King Cole may have been but it’s thought he may just have been the figment of some one’s imagination!  Ian’s story centres around the evil cousin of Old King Cole, Jake Toadlick, who wants to basically dethrone Old King Cole and take over the running of ‘Laffalot’ himself. To do so, he sends his three miscreants – three evil sprites to steal the King’s Sceptre and Golden Star.... would they achieve their task, would Toadlick become King... we all sat back to find out the outcome!

The Production Team…  Matt Morrell (Director) was the person tasked with bringing this panto to stage and what a good job he made! Matt only joined St Michael’s three years ago, last year was his first attempt at playing the Dame, which he did very well, this year, on top of donning the wig, boobs and dress again, he found himself as Director, something he hadn’t done for eleven years, when he directed a musical. In his programme, Matt suggests that he thought directing a panto, would be far easier than directing a musical ... his response now ‘OH NO ITS NOT”!  Matt was assisted by Caitriona Muir, who appears to be able to turn her hand to most things, not only did she assist Matt, but she was Musical Director, Lighting and Sound Techy all whilst moving around with her leg in a cast and sat in a wheelchair ... you can’t keep this woman down, well at least she didn’t’ try to climb into her ‘NEST’!  They’d gathered a good cast made up of a blend of experience and youth.  Everyone looked happy and engaged throughout, they all worked really well together creating some good characters and some good comedic moments and if the applause, from an almost full house, was anything to go by... enjoyed by everyone present!  Assisting Matt and Cat, we had Hollie Jones who helped to stage and present all the Musical and ballet numbers, with Hayley Bentham and Debbie Jones co-ordinating the Chorus movement and dance. Good job everyone, be proud of what you helped to achieve!

The Cast… here at St Michael’s you always find a happy and diverse cast ... where age and experience are never an issue nor a barrier, where everyone works together, helps each other and were enjoying yourself is right on top of the agenda. St Michael’s is, one ‘big happy family’!  When you look through programme at the cast names, you see so many reoccurring second names ... this really is a total family occasion!   It’s very difficult to start suggesting that someone was better than someone else for fear of doing someone an injustice ... so where to start... well let’s start by saying that we didn’t have a ‘showstealer’...  but what we did have was a cast who gave us their all... and when that happens there’s very little more you can ask!  I will give a couple of ‘shout outs’ to my favourite characters, but first lets identifies the ‘Principals’ ...  David Palin played ‘The Common Man’ basically a Narrator for the evening; Aidan Miners played ‘Old King Cole’; Neve Carr played Princess Anna, the Kings daughter; Matt Morrell played ‘Dame Doris Dimwhitty’, the Kings Housekeeper... Lewis Holding played her son ‘Will Dimwhitty’.  ‘Jake Toadlick’ (the baddie and cousin to the King) was played by Stuart Worthington. ‘Jake’ had three ‘evil sprites’ working for him, they were ‘Willamena’, ‘Willamona’ and ‘Williever’ played by Ruby Morrell, Mara Popa and Eva Baxter respectively. June Dowd gave us a great ‘Professor Agatha Arbuthnot’ Mistress of the King’s Musik; under her wing we had two ‘Royal Fiddlers’ ... ‘Snitch and Snatch’ played by Claire Gomersall; Harvey Westhead respectively.  Our final principal was Debbie Jones who played ‘Calamity Joan’ – Sheriff of Drygulch.  Chorus/Juniors ... Bella Bannister, Eva Bentham, Joe Bentham, Lacey Graham, Charlotte Gomersall, Amelie Higham, Izzy Hornby, Jess Houghton, Katie Hurn, Katie Jones, Milly Taylor, Emilia Livesey, Rafael Livesey and Freya Pennington. Chorus Adults ... Hayley Bentham, Virginia Birkett, Julie Bradshaw, Alison Hanson and Sheila Livesey.  As I said previously it’s difficult to start saying someone was better than someone when everyone’s given their all ... but never one to sit on the fence ... first ‘shout out’ goes to our Narrator... ‘The Common Man’ played really well by David Palin. Honestly, David just makes me laugh! He’s a ‘big guy’ with an obvious ‘big heart’ and that sits ever so well here at St Michael’s.  Loved his approach to this role... quiet, laid back with this ‘cheeky look’ on his face throughout!  Diction was great, necessary when ‘storytelling’ ... worked well with cast and audience ... be proud David, great job!  Next... our fabulous Dame ... Matt Morrell who took on the role of Dame Doris Dimwhitty.  I think I can say, with some certainty, that Matt had learned so much from last years first attempt at a ‘Dame’.  More confidence, better and bigger character created, worked well with all the cast, but more importantly, worked and engaged the audience with effortless ease.  Loved the mannerisms and loved the facial expressions... had the audience in the palm of his hands from the off... well done Matt! Last ‘shout out’ goes to our three ‘evil sprites’ ... ‘Willamena’, ‘Willamona’ and ‘Williever’ played by Ruby Morrell, Mara Popa and Eva Baxter respectively.  Not very old, don’t think I’ve seen any of them before and they weren’t perfect... but what they did do ... was develop as the pantomime moved forward!  All three created good little characters.  They worked well together and with all the cast!  Three for the future I would suggest, be very proud!  Honestly, I could go on ... you all did really well and individually and collectively enhancing the pantomime throughout ... be proud one and all!
 
Staging/Set/Sound/Lighting… St Michael’s Parish Hall is a small venue with a really small stage and basically limited everything... lighting, sound, wing space everything!  St. Michael’s don’t see this as an obstacle to their performance, they just ensure that every nook and cranny, every light, every everything is used to its optimum. The ‘techies’ ... Caitriona Muir assisted by David Palin do a great job with what they have. There’s no fancy anything, but you can see and hear everything done and spoken!  Talking about limited... ‘wing space’ is almost nil at St Michael’s Parish Hall, yet everything just flowed and functioned well – looking after all things backstage was Julie Clarke (Stage Manager), assisted by David Palin and other cast members.... they did a great job!  A simple, yet effective set was used throughout that encompassed every inch of stage space, constructed and painted by Ian Field, John Gostelow, David Palin and Sarah Palin. 
Be proud ‘techies and backstage crew’ great job!  Back Cloths were hired from Proscenium Ltd.

Costumes/Props… were once again fabulous and apt for this production… hired from Charades Costume Hire, St Helens, with additional costumes provided by Members of St Michael’s ADS all co-ordinated by June Dowd.                                                                                                                                                                 

Thank you once again for inviting Susan and I to your pantomime… it really is always a privilege and a pleasure to come to St Michael’s to watch you guys perform.  Once again, this diverse cast did you proud...
the younger members of the cast gaining so much experience from playing alongside the older more experienced cast members…well done to one and all, hope to see you all again soon…

Stay Safe, Keep well
‘Stronger Together’

Jim Briscoe
District 6 Rep
NODA North West

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