Robinson Crusoe

My thanks to Christchurch Musical Society, for their invitation to join the excited audience to see their production of Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates, written by Alan P Frayne.

As always, the audience has great expectations of the Pantomime and this experienced cast did not let them down. 

A traditional performance but with a much-appreciated  Welsh twist, was provided very skilfully by “Manon” the Welsh Witch, played with gusto by Diane Ebo. Great facial expression.

Well done to Sarah Purnell-Davis, giving an excellent narration of the story as it moved through each scene in playful opposition to the evil Davy Jones, very convincingly played by Ben Middleton. Excellent mood lighting enhanced all the scenes between these two adversaries.

An excellent casting choice was to see Robinson Crusoe played by Bethan Bellam strut the boards in thigh slapping style, looking, and performing as the traditional principal boy we all love to cheer.

Every pantomime on the other hand needs someone to jeer and David Middleton as Cutthroat had the audience doing just that and enjoying every minute of the performance.

Katie Routley as Juanita gave a lovely performance, her stage experience clearly showing in her ability to engage with the audience.

No Panto should be without its Dame and Mike Bobbett as Margarita Juicilita gave us a delicious crazy lady ably assisted by her son Nutty Nick played by a veteran of comedy Peter Routley, who has shown once again that he has a great rapport with an audience.

A lovely twist to the Man Friday character saw Rachel Edwards producing her lines in a surprising Oxford accent that really worked.

Visual presentation is so important especially when the sounds you make cannot be understood in the traditional way, so well done to Angela Everett as Poll the Parrot and Zoe Thomas as Tanwen the Terrible. Steve Duthie on the other hand, had a great voice for that of  Captain Seasalt.

Panto is traditional, silly, funny and makes you smile and Skull Duggery [Gethin Hayward] and Crossbones [Amy Kempson] did just that. An excellent duo both vocally and visually, a superb performance. Comedy timing is a real skill.

A very good production enhanced as always by an outstanding stage set and the use of appropriate mood lighting. Congratulations on the choreography that kept all the cast involved in some very colourful scenes.

The pantomime was full of energy and it is a tribute to this society that the audience felt totally involved with this very traditional entertainment at its best.

I enjoyed every minute of the show, “oh yes I did “.                                  

  Dianne JL Hayes NODA Wales and Ireland Regional Representative District 7 

 

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