Rapunzel

Crewkerne productions are always very good at making use of the edges of the stage and this production was no different! Greeting the audience as they sat down were Fairy Hair-do’s entrance to the left of the stage and a very impressive looking Rapunzel’s tower to the right. The tower must have been at least 9/10 feet tall and towered over the audience; it was easily the most impressive piece of the set. The rest of the staging was mostly made up with back cloths and a few flats, which made the scenes simple, yet effective. This had the effect of not upstaging the actors and meant that scene changes were mostly quick and straight forward.

Lighting was good throughout the production and the UV Scene was incredibly impressive, in fact it was one of the best I have seen in a pantomime, well done. Unfortunately, the night I attended, there were some problems with sound. The issues mostly affected the first act and unfortunately I could not hear the opening song; George Flint’s half of ‘Ballroom Blitz’; half of ‘When Will My Life Begin’ and several pieces of dialogue. This was a real shame, as sound was also an issue during Calamity Jane. However, it was good to see that the gremlins that hounded the sound during Act 1 were, mostly, resolved for Act 2.

The band, under the musical direction of Penny Bartholomew, was very good but due to the sound issues often over-powered the singers, most notably in Act 1. There were also times when it was obvious the cast were struggling a bit with the pitch in certain songs and it seemed a shame that the band didn’t alter their pitch a little to help accommodate the actors. I also felt that the overture before Act 1, was a little too long and many members of the audience had started talking amongst themselves before it had finished. The choices of songs were good and the audience definitely enjoyed “I Would Walk 500 Miles” (a good old panto favourite). The community song “My Hand on my Head (Nicky Nacky Nocky Noo)” was very good fun and it was nice to see the whole audience joining in, although to my shame I had never heard this song before! I also loved your version of “Be Back Soon”, which I discovered is an annual end to every panto. What a lovely idea and a nice touch for your regular audience. It clearly goes down well, as all the audience around me were singing along for all their might.

The choreography throughout the show was simple even a little samey at times, but it did work well within the show. Nearly all the dancers looked like they were enjoying themselves, a couple of the boys looked like they would rather be somewhere else but generally there was a good feeling of teamwork throughout the performance. The ensemble/chorus members showed a real knack for dancing, especially Neus Luna who stood out in many of the dances as being very elegant and majestic.

The costumes, make-up and wigs were all good, particularly Fairy Dreadlock’s which were incredibly impressive and really made her stand out. So much time and effort must have gone into that outfit, so huge congratulations to Jackie Dyer; Helen Wickens; Tabitha Shave and Vivienne Rose for their work on her. The Dame’s outfits and looks were also good, but I would have liked to have seen “her” in a few more outrageous outfits.

The script by Jack Northcott made a very good attempt at making a pantomime out of The Rapunzel story, without falling into the trap of just re-writing Disney’s Tangled. Jack managed to craft an interesting story concerning Fairy Dreadlock’s stolen hairy carrot, however it lacked a little in the comedy stakes and some jokes either fell short of the mark or didn’t land at all! There was a good slapstick scene, involving the comedy duo, in Dame Penny’s Hair Salon but it was over too quickly and it would have been great to see more made of the “Automatic Hair Styling Machine” and the shampoo and washing of Brainless Bob. The boat scene near the end through the auditorium was good though and it was a nice way of bringing the characters closer to the audience.

The cast were all good in their roles and they all tried to wring as much comedy out of the script as possible. The ever-reliable Kerry Peters did a good job of portraying Fairy Hair-do and managed to get the audience on her side from the beginning. Both Ann Brolly and Tom Lowe worked well together as Brainless Bob and Silly Slappy – the story’s token numbskulls. Special mention must be given to Tom as this was his first ever panto role and you would never had guessed as he did a very commendable job, well done Tom. Fiona Wyatt had a lovely singing voice and played Rapunzel as more of a heroine than a damsel in distress, which was a nice change. Ray Norris did a great job of playing the scouse Dame Penny Perm and he was definitely an audience favourite.  His risqué jokes and catchphrase “Blow and go Dame Penny? only if you give me a tenner!” were incredibly funny and it’s always good to have a little humour in a panto that is aimed more at the parents. Dame Penny’s song ‘Nice, Nice Lady’ was also a stand out moment in the show and was very funny too. However the star of the evening was Diana Hodgson who was absolutely magnificent as Fairy Dreadlock and easily stole the show, as well as stealing Rapunzel. The children Imogen; Robyn; Molly and Jessica were also very good as Cheeky; Cheery; Chirpy and Chatty and really held their own with the more experienced adult cast and I look forward to them headlining their own pantomimes in the future. 

I would suggest that you do look into the sound issues, as both Calamity Jane and Rapunzel were let down by poor sound quality, but all in all another good production that I really enjoyed, so thank you CUDOS.

As you know I was accompanied by Jack Price, South West Youth Adviser, please find his comments below.

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