Sleeping Beauty

How refreshing to see a Pantomime which does not feature so called “stars” from what are often obscure T.V. Shows especially when you have the kind of talent on hand from your own back yard as it were.

Good music, simple but effective choreography and principals who undoubtedly know what they are doing. Add a fine Production Team comprising Philip Tomlinson and Mark Howard who wrote and directed the enterprise, Musical Director, Dave Thomas and Choreographer Anne Arkwright. What more could you want? If I had a criticism it would be that it was too long but it was a small price to pay for such a strong showing.

Lets start, as did the plot, with our three fairies. Aero, Butterscotch and Curly Wurly,  (Delphine Walton, Cathy Reid and Anne Arkwright). They kept things going by bringing the plot into play and speaking mostly in rhyme, which is not always easy to deal with. Liam McCann a young man with a future, played the miserly chancellor and certainly made the most of the part. Then there was Chester( Philip Tomlinson. There’s always one and he was it. Philip is obviously used to multi-tasking and in conjunction with Dame Dotty( Mark Howard) his co-conspirator gave the audience plenty of opportunity to join in the fun. Experience was to the fore with these two and they introduced what certainly seemed like add libbing with both the audience and the musicians. The stronger the performance the greater the booing and Julie Oldfield as the wicked fairy got plenty of those. A very polished characterization aided and abetted by her sidekick Gormless, (Thomas Baines). Amazingly enough the latter had taken over the role at very short notice and yet had completely caught the flavor of it. I found it hard to hear him at times but not only a latecomer he was also suffering from a very heavy cold, hence the slight difficulty in speaking. (A wonderful effort this by Tom.)

What can you say about Tick and Tock (Donatella Heyworth and Lyndsey Gornall). Both came over exactly as they needed to, looking completely at home in their respective characters, great stuff. Kirsty Chapman as The Queen did all that was expected of her and did it well.

I’ve often thought that the roles of Principal Boy and Girl tend to be underwritten giving the pair little chance of making a really strong impression. Not so on this occasion. Abbi Moore and Pippa Lane (Aurora and Prince Valiant) were able to be in touch with the audience, were involved in the various bits of business usually withheld from these roles and with their obvious enjoyment in what they were doing, gave a new perspective to these characters as well as looking good. The writers should be complimented for this approach,which I seldom see in my many trips to the Pantomime.

Chorus, both senior and junior made their contribution and are an important factor in any show. Hopefully these are the future players in Pantomimes still to come.                                                                                                        Let us also not forget the part played by the whole of the backstage team. Rarely seen but providing the backbone to those who are seen on stage. Well done to you all.

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