Puss in Boots

Well, I didn’t expect this tale of Puss in Boots, this was an entirely different version, well written with an enjoyable tale which was well told throughout the evening. Congratulations to author Rob Waple, there were all the traditional elements, the good fairy, the evil henchman, the Dame, the hero, the love interest. Two brainless sons, an evil professor, a King, a Queen and Princess and a Court Jester, what I liked was that on talking to Producer Dylan he told me that they had two teenagers who both wanted to play the King. The Company wanted to give them both the opportunity, so they had two performances each, I watched Freddie Ellis as King Wallace. I’m sure Nicholas Ramos did just as well.

The curtain opened to a rather impressive set with a village back drop and a well built and decorated Windmill, the Dame and her family were Millers both in name and profession. In the second Act there was an even more impressive structure on stage, a massive transformation machine well designed and built with levers, buttons and flashing light and separately a cage for the captured villagers, there were good backdrops throughout, both rear of stage and for cross overs.

There was a decent sized ensemble cast of youngsters as villagers, dancers together with two cats and two dogs, the cats with the good fairy and the dogs with the henchman crawling around the stage during appearances of the appropriate character. Riannah Thompson as Fairy Pussy Willow gave a good performance but was outshone by Archie Stohr as Igor Stein as a threatening henchman, darkly performed with a commanding voice and appearance. Puss appeared first as a puppet deftly maneuvered by Maddison Back who later appeared as evil professor Dr. Frank, a suitably evil performance. Rob Waple as Dame Wendy Miller made a good dame and gave us a good performance, witty repartee and some great comic moments (I loved the bending of the cage bars to get in and out), he worked well with the three sons and particularly with Red Jester, more later. The handful of flour all over Igor’s face was great, and then to pair them off at the end of the show.

Caitlyn Watkins as Will Miller was a good pairing with Anastasia Egan-Welch as Puss In Boots, they worked well together, a nice re-action when they first met each other, good clear dialogue and singing. Then as the two dopey Miller sons were Mia McDonald as Bill and Leah Sanders as Phil, these two gave us plenty of slapstick and were suitably stupid, two nicely drawn characters. Away from the Miller family stupidity we had the Royal family to bring a bit of ‘formality’ to proceedings, a nicely drawn portrait by Lexi-Mai Povey as Queen Wisteria and young Freddie Ellis as King Wallace, I did feel that he needed to relax into the role a little more although he was well spoken if a little soft at times. Their daughter Princess Lily was well played by Rosie Hannon, a clear relationship with Will Miller against her parent’s wishes, but as in all good pantomimes all works out well.

All that was needed was a Court Jester and so we had Callum Wing as Red Jester, a lot of his well-written lines were cheese-based puns which were well received, in fact quite a Cheesy script for him. Callum was excellent in this role, jokes and lines were well delivered, he was happy to throw himself around the stage and be a perfect Red Leicester, sorry Red Jester.

This was a well performed show, plenty of humour, the pace was very good, not mentioning Fairy forgetting to come on with Igor valiantly trying to cover up. The songs were well performed as was the choreography, dialogue was generally clear, no real problems with sound, there was a good lighting plot and sensible use of Vertical Smoke Foggers for effects. The sets were well built and designed; no masking of performers and the scene changes were seamless which kept the pace up. Good props, make-up was sensibly applied where required, there were some really smart costumes, as always the Dame had plenty to show off.

I enjoyed this show, you should all be proud, both those on stage and behind the scenes, thank you for your hospitality and the chance to speak with producer Dylan afterwards.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.