Red Riding Hood

It is a good few years since I have seen Red Riding Hood which is seemingly a little-done pantomime, so Bunbury Players’ offering made a change from the “big five” of Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, Dick Whittington and, of course, Cinderella.   Mind you, this edition of Red Riding Hood written by Barry Crossley was a bit different: sort of Red Riding Hood meets Frankenstein!

Pantomime is a difficult genre and not as easy as it appears.  All the comic situations and jokes aren’t just thrown together and need to be thoroughly rehearsed (and understood) to make it work. Confidence and belief in what you are doing is a must with pantomime plus, of course, the willingness of the audience to participate. 

This pantomime benefitted by having some good colourful backdrops, excellent props and lovely  costumes. Sound effects were good and well-cued and lighting which is probably quite difficult in The Jubilee Centre was good apart from when the gremlins came to play.  I was not sure at first whether the cast were using radio mics.  If they were they were not turned up enough as I struggled to hear a lot of the dialogue.

All the principals certainly looked the part especially Michael Heslop and Katie Beckett as Hustle and Bustle Count Lupus’ inept henchmen. Two extremely good performances particularly the “Who, What & I Don’t Know” skit which would not have worked if it had not been so well done.

There was also some fine work from Amy Noon as The Forest Fairy - great voice Amy and Harrison Southgate as Simple Simon who was a big hit with the youngsters.  Chloe Gilbert (Red Riding Hood) and Rosie Lowe (Prince Percival) worked well together.  Both looked good and had voices to match.

Will Cahill as Grandma Hood was excellent. He was just what a panto dame should be and enjoyed great rapport with the audience.  

There was good support from: Darren Hitchings as Count Lupus and Randy Borden as The Wolf.  However, all those with named roles contributed to the whole.

Bunbury Players’ choruses are always well rehearsed and it is evident that every single person knows the words to the songs and throughout the singing was good: but dear me where were the smiles?  I am sure everyone was enjoying performing but the concentration was so intense everyone forgot to smile. However, they all performed the songs and executed the excellent choreography, courtesy of Edward Bye and Mandy Morrish and the team well.  Much of the music was unfamiliar to me, but those around me seemed to know all the songs. There was plenty of musical variety which was skilfully played by Musical Director Mark A J Checkley and the trio.  

As I said earlier, much of the success of pantomime is the willingness of the audience to join in and this was never in doubt.  The Jubilee Centre was buzzing from the moment the doors opened and continued the whole evening. 

Well done Director Darren Mather, the whole production team and cast. With sell out performances the Bunbury Players sent a lot of happy people home singing “Sweet Dreams are Made of Cheese”.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.