Sleeping Beauty

I attended this pretty pantomime on a day when my home was plunged into darkness with a power cut, so I was very pleased to be in a most welcoming Town Hall, surrounded by noisy Brownies, Beavers, Guides and Cubs for the evening!i

Once again, this group gave local theatre-goers a first rate show. It isn't the easiest of fairy stories to lend itself to a pantomime format, but the writer and Director, Dean Patrick had weaved a good script, with all the favourite characters, around a Princess, who sleeps for a hundred years - as the Dame commented, no one had aged at all!!

It all began at the Christening of Princess Beauty, with strong performances from the King and Queen (Albert Roberts and Sandie Reed). The three Good Fairies; Stardust, Mary and Berry (Patricia Mayfield, Lindsay Leng and Julie Dorree) were lively and pretty, with Berry obviously the naughty Fairy!  Dean had created some excellent scenes, especially one where the King had to employ a Nanny for the Princess - the lucky applicant was Nanny Nora, played by Steven Holt in his own inimitable way, engaging beautifully with the audience, with some political jokes thrown in for good measure! The bad Fairy, Carabosse, played by Carolynn Dickenson, was the perfect baddie, putting her evil spell on the baby Princess, much to the audience's disapproval, shouting her down at every opportunity! The joker of the piece was Muddles (Jason Reynolds) who vainly tried to tell jokes, usually having them finished by a bright spark in the audience, which didn't deter Jason in the least!!  Completing the principal line-up were two confident performers - the grown-up Princess Beauty, (Kaly Nicholson) and her hero, Prince Anton (Sophie Walker) - these girls performed well, with good singing voices.

The principals were supported by an adult chorus, good singers and movers, so important in this type of production.

Dean Patrick had done a great job in his direction and choreography, re-created well by the entire company. David Hann was again, Musical Director and played keyboards, along with Alan Farrell. Neil Graham kept the pace going on drums.

The whole production was beautifully costumed, enhanced with equally good make-up - it is such a pleasure to see such detail. The creative team, headed by Gayna and Howard Goalby, worked professionally (not one crackle from the radio mikes, excellent!). An amazing video fight sequence between the Prince and the Dragon completed the magic of theatre, which is what it's all about!

I returned home to find light had been restored - must have been the Good Fairies charm!!

Congratulations to you all!   

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