Peter Pan. Well……Sort of
Information
- Date
- 10th February 2017
- Society
- Felton & Thirston Panto Society
- Venue
- Felton Village Hall. Northumberland
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Director
- Neal Skelton and Dave Price
- Musical Director
- Alison Rushby
- Choreographer
- Anne Raine
Once again the hall was alive with the ‘Buzz’ of anticipation as the audience waited expectantly for yet another evening of extravaganza into aerobatic manoeuvres to be conducted in the skies of Felton and Thirston. We were not disappointed as our dynamic duo of Neil Skelton and Dave Price wrote and directed this hilarious production which was full of surprises. They engaged the audience long before curtain up with hilarious chat from Dave Hindmarsh who was itching to come out of the audience and be part of the show and of course after many glasses of wine (a prop!) and annoying the audience in the daftest way, right behind me I may say; he eventually succeeded and thereby ‘Dame Nanny’ set the scene for an evening of participation and hilarity at every given moment! Dave is such a funny man and the audience love him. He is quite outrageous in acting and creates mayhem at every given opportunity.
The sets of this production were superb and completely designed, made and painted by the company themselves. They were colourful, so interesting and just a delight to look at. Quick scene changes by stage manager Martin Downing and crew are to be commended. They worked effortlessly in moving them seamlessly on and off this very small stage. Props, lighting and sound were all superb. Costumes again, were all sourced or made by the group under the supervision of Grace Ainsley and her team and looked very good and specific attention to detail ensured they were authentic. Make up too was just right.
Children are always an important and integral part of this group. They were well rehearsed and showed competence in their roles. They were cast as pirates and Indians ably led by Anne Raine and Sue Fowler who are stalwarts and have such good stage presence and kept their gangs in place so naturally. I loved their costumes and names. Each one was named individually, alas too many to mention but examples are ‘Little Running Nose’. Squaw-ked’ and ‘Broken Arrow’. It goes without saying that children in a show require lots of help and unsung hero Sue Inglis-Jones works tirelessly backstage to make sure that all the children are correctly dressed, in the right place at the right time, behaving themselves and also making sure that they know their lines and cues.
Captain Pan (Neil Skelton) kept the whole panto running at lively pace and with his over the top dramatic flair he made a splendid eccentric director as his role was more or less to direct a show within a show. His engineered banter with Hook was deliciously camp and very entertaining and I still can’t work out if ‘Hook’ deliberately forgot his words and was prompted in the wings by ‘Pan’ the director!!! The Darling family were well cast with children and adults taking the roles. They bonded well together and were convincing in their various characters. Peter Pan (Sarah Walker) and Tinkerbell (Georgina Roberts) looked good together and portrayed the characters exceptionally well. Nana the dog (Bob George) was very funny and children in the audience loved him.
Hook (Dave Price) was just hilarious, this man is a laugh a minute and outrageous at the same time. Without a doubt he stole the show with his cunning persona, and with signs of fake dementia proving him at times to be a witless bumbling Captain. He had the audience laughing in the aisles he really was a hoot! Smee (Sue Fowler) complimented Hook and was very funny and never faltered despite I would imagine it being very hard to keep a straight face acting with Dave Price!
Always lot of surprises in these productions, the Coquet-dile, The Stig, the effect of flying, and interaction with Pan Airways etc., all add to this amazing production in the heart of a small village where we see community drama at it’s very best. The community spirit here is second to none with everyone getting involved. Of course none of this is possible without the vision of our two nonsense jokers Neil and Dave and their unfailing drive to write and direct as well as their long suffering production assistant Grace. Well done to all for another night of superb madness and entertainment! What next I wonder!
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