Red

Red

The story of Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs

Red is an original pantomime from the pens of two local writers, Gillian Coley and Julie Salmon and tells the story of the Three Little Pigs and Red Riding Hood, those two famous fairytales created by The Brothers Grimm, jumbled together but with a clever classic twist.

As the audience enters the auditorium, we are greeted to an open stage with a simple but effective set of a 3D tree, painted trees on a frame (which I will mention later) and a backdrop of a dark woodland forest, dimly lit with green, purples and pinks and with bird song played gently as we take our seats.  The music begins and we are treated to a pleasant number choreographed by Toby Hill from the woodland chorus, five young actors all dressed as various woodland creatures, performing to “Shut up and dance with me”.  We are then introduced to our main characters, the Three Little Pigs, Cassius Pygge, Dotty Pygge and Woody Pygge.  All three actors wore cleverly created masks, each individually constructed to suit the character the actor was portraying. Dressed in white but with characteristic costume to distinguish their personalities. Cassius wore a mustard yellow waistcoat and hat, Dotty’s being sparkly blue and with a cute hat too and Woody’s in green.  They commanded the stage and worked seamlessly together.  Cassius as the clever, overprotective brother who later becomes Super Pig (with an amusing American twang) saving the day in Act 2. Dotty, who was portrayed by this actor well, perfectly dotty and amusing to watch throughout and Woody, their younger sibling, a gentle soul, sympathetically performed. All different and directed well. 

We then meet Red Riding Hood, a lovely actor dressed, appropriately, in a white blouse with brown Basque, red skirt edged in lace, red cape and red hair bow who skipped through the production, literally, with a sweet singing voice, clear diction and super stage presence. The perfect Red Riding Hood. 

A baddy in a pantomime needs to gush nastiness and Sylvester Wolf did just that. Dressed all in black with leather jacket, lace fronted shirt, trousers a gold medallion and with a magnificently fierce mask, we are presented with an actor who relishes playing the villain. With great comedic timing and some of the best lines such as “I always like a hot cross bunny for breakfast”, Sylvester Wolf produced a commanding performance! No wonder the three pigs shuddered.  As did the dame, Gladioli Bunn, grandmother of Red, played, amusingly, by an actor who stepped in at the last minute. Happy to show her pantaloons anytime, Gladioli, with her bright blue wig becomes involved in a romantic triangle with her reluctant maid, Chantelle, a saucy character cheekily portrayed, both battling it out for the affection of Chuck, the woodsman, a ‘Liverpudlian’ confused by all the attention. All three actors worked their scenes well and made the audience laugh out loud at times. 

The story continues with the Pygge family all wishing to find a home and are persuaded by their local estate agent, Harriet House, to build their own! Harriet, dressed beautifully in a black suit and with pink scarf, pink tights and even pink hair perfectly coiffured, was portrayed by an actor of some quality, farcical and humorous throughout.  The builders, Bob and Bert and their apprentice LAD provide the slapstick throughout while building houses made of straw, wood and brick*. Great comedic performances from Ben and Bert, a terrible twosome and even worse builders who worked seamlessly together alongside LAD, a young actor, great tap dancer and one to watch in the future.  

Eagerly supported by a belligerent and annoying Supervisor, an even more eager feeder, Ruby, who is always ready to offer sustenance to all, and the masked woodland creatures, the cast was complete. 

The production flowed well with changes of scenery covered by the woodland creatures running though the auditorium. These changes were completed quickly by an organized backstage crew. Credit where it is due, the backdrops and scenery were well painted and there was clever use of stage props e.g. *the houses were cleverly created by the actors on stage removing the trees from a constructed frame and replacing them with a pull-up screen or scenery portraying the appropriate houses of straw, wood and brick. Well done to the set construction team and painters. Very creative in a small space.

The costumes were shrewdly thought out, perfect for the woodland creatures, brightly coloured for the adult performers and the masks were excellent.

The musical numbers included both piped and live accompaniment by the musicians, ranging from “You Sexy Thing” to “Do you hear the people sing” from Les Miserable. Being eclectic, all of the music worked well with the scenes and the solo numbers were the right length for their purpose. This is often not the case and can lead to a very long show, thankfully not in this instance.  I especially liked the cast including the audience in the singalong numbers of “I Love Red” and “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”.  The choreography was uncomplicated and well executed by the cast. 

I was delighted to meet the Exmouth Players family and was greeted with such warmth and kindness from everyone. My grateful thanks and congratulations to all of the cast, crew, musicians and production team for a very enjoyable evening of classic pantomime entertainment. 

Lyn Burgoyne

Noda Representative (District 5 - Mid and East Devon)

 

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