Sleeping Beauty

It’s a long time since I saw Sleeping Beauty and this panto by Alan P Frayn was well up there with the standards that this society sets and, once again, attracted good audiences who were pleased with what was on offer.

There were some very enjoyable performances from a cast including a lot of youngsters and Connor Wilson was impressive as a very likeable Muddles, quickly creating a good rapport with the audience.  David Cameron again showed us his versatility playing the bad witch, Witch Hazel.  He has a strong voice but it was a pity that he wasn’t miked up for his song.  A fun performance though.

Amelia Fletcher played Princess Rose nicely and I liked Charlotte Thomas as the Prince, the biggest part I have seen her play.  Hornsea favourite Ian Thompson was again in his element as the Dame, Hettie Harpic, and, as a slightly lower-key character than usual, I enjoyed the fact that he gave the younger members of the cast a chance to show their capabilities.

Phil Wilson always makes me laugh and here was no exception in his portrayal of the King and Cath Evans as the Queen was a good support for him.

The good Fairy was enjoyable from Anna Bant and her selfie-stick wand with Macsen Harper and Macy Williamson also having fun as Fetch and Carrie.  The Rainbow Fairies were pleasing with attractive dancing and the youngest, Maisy Wilson, showed a real all-round quality.

The choreography was in the new hands of two home-grown members, Alice Jordan and Megan Tudor, and a very good job they made of it as well with the entire cast being utilised most of the time to a mixture of piano accompaniment and backing tracks.  The Baby Shark Song dance participation from young members of the audience instead of a sing-song was really fun – they all knew the moves!

The costumes were as good as ever and there were some pretty fair lighting effects.  There was a simple set using mainly drop cloths.  However, I do get frustrated, and always have, when microphones are not opened up at the right times and here there were a good number of late starts which I found disappointing.

There was a good finish time and my overall impression of the production was very positive.  The society can be well pleased with their efforts.

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