Peter Pan

What an excellent evening’s entertainment we were treated to by All Souls Dramatic Club with their version of the J M Barrie story of Peter Pan written and directed by Cliff Gillies. The cast all gave fine performances working together as a team with no weak links bringing to life the characters that we all know and associate with this very popular story of the adventures of the little boy who did not want to grow up. With the help of technical wizardry such as well-placed screens and the use of first-rate lighting and sound, a single generic set was used which meant the cast could move from an Indian village to the deck of a Pirate ship very quickly without having to change scenery, which kept the show moving at a good fast pace, it also meant the cast had an excellent platform to work on. The first-rate cast  included Katie Watkinson in the title role of Peter Pan who appeared to fly across the stage elegantly much to the delight of the children in the audience and Katie was well complemented by Samantha Keen as Wendy Darling they made a very good central pantomime couple acting and singing very well together their voices blending nicely, the other members of the Darling family on the adventure were Wendy’s brothers John Darling and Michael Darling  who were played by Sophie Parkes and Kristina Cunningham. Hayley Murray as Smee had a wonderful rapport with the audience, which is very important in this type of role, she has an excellent singing voice and her energy appeared boundless. The splendid Cliff Gillies once again gave us his very cheeky Dame as Sally Staines the ships cook, Cliff just seems to have a way with an audience when talking to them, he also has great comic timing which is very important in this genera. Captain Hook played by Neil Woods had a rich smooth voice which suited the character of Hook superbly he owned the stage and also had a great singing voice which suited his musical numbers very well, he certainly got a good reaction from the audience with plenty of boos for his character. Jenny Roby as Tinkerbelle was very pixie like, her facial expressions and body language said everything and the use of sign language gave the added touch to her character and Jen Johnson’s portrayal of Tigerlily was like totally exciting. The play on the modern idiom of speech and the way some young women speak today from Tigerlily and her Indian friends was very innovative, up to date and also very entertaining. There were other excellent performance with lots of comedy and talent on show they included Pete Roney (Big Chief Sitting Room) Tracy Holmes -Smith (Dav ) Mickey Stewart (JB) Karen Parkinson ( Garmin) Vicky Newcombe (Tomtom) Christine Hill (Sioux) Gabbi Haddock ( Shy Ann)  Mark Haygarth (Starkey) Chris Seery(Hutch) Sue Hardiker ( Grandma) Phil Richards (Grandpa) John Hardiker (Mr Darling) Margarita Haddock (Mrs Darling). There was also a twist at the end of the pantomime when Helen Gillies made a big Tick Tock entrance as Captain Hooks Girlfriend Crocodile thus putting a stop to Hook’s plans and another surprise for the audience was the appearance of Nana the dog who the children loved. There were two nice promising performance from Aoife Lewis as Poppy and Robyn-Mary Wright as Rosie who both began the song “When I Grow Up” at the end of the show nicely. The principle cast were well supported by the chorus of adults and children who all worked hard and appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely The First-rate Choreography by Katie Watkinson was up to date, suited the music and was executed well by the cast

Musical accompaniment appeared to be by backing track and a band who were on stage for one number, musical and vocal arrangements were by Katie Watkinson and  vocal coaching was by Chloe Hughes. Music selection and production was by Hayley Murray and Chris Seery and the musical arrangements for the band was by Chris Seery. The choice of music was very interesting, uplifting, quite eclectic and up to date. 

This was a fast paced modern energetic production, full of life and comedy which had been well rehearsed and very well produced, also the colourful spot on costumes enhanced the production and must have helped the cast with their characterisations.

The success of any pantomime can be measured by the audience’s reaction and the audience certainly enjoyed themselves and participated during this performance.  Congratulations must go to Cliff Gillies, all the stage, backstage and technical crew, and all who participated in some way in bringing this outstanding production to the stage.
 

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