Sleeping Beauty

The Lancing Players again produced a pantomime full of fun and excitement, keeping a full house occupied and involved with their production of Sleeping Beauty.  The pace of the show was very good, the action never faltered and it was obvious that the entire cast were enjoying performing as they threw themselves into every part of the show. The start of the production was some enthusiastic dancers from the Hollis School of Dance performing well to some appropriate music, but I felt that it would have made more impact if there had been either songs on the taped music or a singer. This is a very minor criticism as they all performed with so much enthusiasm throughout the entire show.

For me the star of this one has to be Marlene Tincknell playing the part of Carrabosse, the wicked fairy who failed to get an invitation to the Princesses' party so punishes the Royal Family with a curse. This was quite a change from Marlene’s many other roles, which include a Queen, a principal boy and even the front end of a cow. As a ‘Baddie’ she was outstanding, causing quite an uproar from the audience who love to have someone to hate.

Princess Beauty (Grace Consterdine) and The Prince (Jamie Crow) were everything one could wish in a leading couple, being very down to earth and natural. The relationship between the pair came over really well, convincing us that they were genuinely in love with each other. Jamie’s sword fighting with The Black Knight (Joe Manton) was very spectacular.

In contrast to this were the roles of Bumble (Harry Clarke) and Nanny (Karren Franklin) who excelled in portraying the two comedy roles. The audience was continually laughing at their antics, giving them loud cheers and groans of sympathy when things did not go quite their way. They were the ideal couple to act together showing their acting ability and stage presence with great audience participation so important in pantomime.

The Minstrel (Carol Clark), the King (George Lake), Queen (Kath Leese) and Lilac Fairy (Dolores Constable) all gave good performances in their various roles being an important factor to this well known story and the chorus work was good with well organised choreography and singing.

Sound, light and scenery and excellent costumes all added to give the show a well balanced feel.

All in all a splendid evening’s entertainment.

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