Puss In Boots

This NODA pantomime by John Morley had all the ingredients you could wish for its slightly different approach to some of the traditional characters, which worked well and some amusing local references added in the mix.

‘Arthur’ one of three brothers returns home to find that the family business has gone to pot, leaving only their family cat. Magically the cat helps ‘Arthur’ to find the girl of his dreams and take on the evil ‘Dr Frankenstein’ and his henchman ‘Blackleather’ from taking over the village.

‘Arthur Miller’ (Casey Benson) and ‘Puss’ (Chloe Yates) our heroes, gave excellent performances; acted, sang and moved well with great style. Arthur’s two brothers ‘Glen Miller’ and ‘Max Miller’ (Jess Tracelyn Crook & J’Dunn Gormley) provided exactly the right level of knock about fun and comedy moments. ‘Arthur’ unsurprisingly falls for ‘Princess Daffodil’ played by Maddy Meredith who was every bit a Princess, singing well and glowing with sweetness; her face was a picture.

Meanwhile ‘King Bulbo’ and ‘Queen Tulip’ (Steve Crofts & Karen Evans) worked well together, with Karen cornering the market in some great comic facial expressions. They were well supported by ‘Lord Edam’ played with great style by Tim Wilson.

Every panto needs a villain or two and in this department, the suitably dressed Nathaniel Fuller as ‘Blackleather’  left us in no doubt what his intentions and those of his master the evil ‘Dr Frankenstein’ ( Jesse Coyle) were,  to enslave the villagers!  Both had good stage presence and the scene with Frankenstein’s magic machine was both impressive and not less than convincing to some of the youngest in the audience!  The principle line-up was completed with great support from Chris Kislak (‘The Magic Cobbler’), Penny Sant (‘Tabitha Queen of Catland’), Reuben Vickers (‘Millers cat’), Dillon Mullan (‘The Monster’), Lucy Tyrrell (‘The Lion’) and Hannah Hopkins (‘Mother Bunny’).

The overall production moved at a good pace and there was some great polished choreography too. The chorus handled this with ease and were entirely engaged throughout and I must congratulate some of the youngest in the company many making their first stage appearance. The costumes, make-up, lighting and set were first class with some very effective sound effects and the orchestra under the direction of debutant Alex Jackson, never overpowered the cast.

This was a great evening of entertainment, thank you and I look forward to your next production.

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.