Sleeping Beauty

The storyline of this production varied from the usual in that the handsome but vain prince did not deservedly win the hand of the fair Princess Auroa. On the whole I felt that there was an overabundance of characters which seemed to hamper the development of the storyline and in my opinion made the whole show overlong.

Having said that 'Sleeping Beauty' was very well rehearsed and all the principals presented their characters confidently. For me the outstanding performances came from Ashleigh Hammond as Malificent and David Wicks as the quirky Dame Nelly - it was great to see him back on stage really driving the action forward. The comedy was nicely timed and the dancing was choreographed to enhance the ethereal magic of this pantomime. The crowd scenes were well directed too. The orchestra complemented all too.

The sets were excellent as were the stage effects, the sound and the lighting - all were handled very effectively and gave added dimension to the show. The costumes were all bright and colourful.

Generally I did enjoy the show and I do applaud innovation but three hours is too long for most of the audience (ie the children) and a few judicial cuts would have made the production slicker.

However congratulations to everyone involved with 'Sleeping Beauty'. I could see that much dedication and hard work had gone into this production.

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