Once Upon a Pantomime

This was a cleverly written Pantomime incorporating several stories from Brothers Grimm, including the characters of Rumplestiltskin, Rapunzel, Hansel, Gretal, Snow White, Cinderella, three witches, with the addition of a Dame, Princess and comic duo, without which no Pantomime would be complete.

It started with a Front of Tabs Scene in The Cave of Despair, with evil, scary Rumplestiltskin calling in three witches Belladonna, Mother Hemlock and Poison Ivy. They reveal their dastardly plan to capture all the Princes and remove them from Fairyland, so that they will then be able to rule the kingdom. This set the story for the audience so they had an idea of what was coming. The tabs then opened onto a colourful set of the Village Square, complete with villagers and Dame Rosy Parker entering through the audience.

All the sets were well designed and constructed, taking us to the various locations, and helping to create a good atmosphere. Most of the scene changing was conducted efficiently. Time and thought had been put into producing well co-ordinated, colourful pantomime costumes, which together with excellent makeup, particularly for the Dame, the witches and Rumplestiltskin helped create some visually excellent characters.  Lighting had been carefully designed helping to create the right atmosphere for each scene and along with sound effects was well cued. The space was effectively used with entrances and exits through the auditorium, helping the characters to engage with the audience.  It was lovely having the young dancers in front of the stage in one number as skeletons, zombies and the devil, although as they were on the floor I did wonder if they could be seen by all the audience.

The music was well chosen and varied, with the songs well taught. The chorus numbers were lively and there were some lovely solos and duets. The groupings in some of the chorus numbers had ended up as straight lines, they would have gained a little more vocal confidence from others close to them if they had stayed in the positions they had been given. There were one or two blips with the backing tracks  being used, as some of the younger performers looked a little hesitant about starting, perhaps they needed a little movement to cover the lead in.

This group like many others uses the Pantomime as a training ground for their younger members and there were certainly some very talented youngsters on stage, who were well supported by more seasoned members of the company. The cast worked well together with everyone obviously putting in much hard work. There were many good character portrayals both from adults and youngsters and I would like to mention a few.  Dame Rosy Parker, handled the role well not going over the top; ‘she’ pointed the jokes well, giving the audience time to respond. Rumplestiltskin was particularly evil and had the audience booing and hissing. Belladonna, Mother Hemlock and Poison Ivy the three witches, gave good individual performances and worked well together to weave their evil magic. The various duos supported each other well and the dwarves were a delight especially in their ‘Hip Hop’. I was very impressed with the ‘mirror’, how he kept from blinking and laughing was amazing. Young Rapunzel gave a mature performance and her duet with Snow White was very confident.

Directors and Choreographers Jessica Grace Weaver and Rhys Maule had once again collaborated to bring a colourful, lively and entertaining Pantomime to the stage at The Cadbury Hall, with well-timed laughs and interesting choreography. The audience were treated to a good evenings entertainment and thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done everyone.

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