Sleeping Beauty

Bacup’s reputation for pantomimes of quality is well known and the annual panto season in Rossendale is always dominated by the offering from the Royal Court. There is always a lavish, professional shine to a Bacup panto and that was just as evident here with ‘Sleeping Beauty’: similarly, the tradition of large crowds assembling at the Royal Court every year to throw themselves into proceedings was also maintained! It therefore seems a shame to have to report that this year, BAODS were very nearly scuppered by being saddled with what must surely be one of the worst panto scripts it could be anybody’s misfortune to encounter. With a paper thin plot, a directionless narrative and a very long first act where almost precisely nothing happens, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ proved to be a slumbering turkey which needed serious resuscitation from the team at Bacup to come to life at all. 

The riot of colourful costumes on display filled the stage beautifully as the curtain opened and the fun began. The large cast were fantastically well costumed across the board, from royalty in the shape of King and Queen, to the myriad marvellous fairies who fairly filled the stage. The large cast of performers and dancers was a treat for the eyes and it was lovely to see the whole society on stage really throwing themselves into proceedings.

One of the interesting touches in this panto was the number of colourful fairies, each one colour coded to give a rainbow of delightful sprites and even a few younger trainee fairies with ‘L’ plates affixed! Their boss, Fairy Lilac (although given the mellifluous Irish brogue, perhaps Emerald Green might have been more appropriate) was played with pizzazz by Claire Ashworth who forsook the usual book of spells for a magical iPad type thing, which was rather nifty. Claire powered through the flimsy material and her every appearance was a tonic. The real star of the show for me came in the form of the villainous Witch Hazel - I’m afraid I’m always on the side of the evil doers in pantomimes and can never bring myself to boo them! - played with lip smacking glee by Dawn-Marie Woodcock. Resplendent in a rather outré leather outfit, she cackled her way through proceedings with a powerful stage presence and the spell casting scene with her minions was very well done. This was a characterisation which brought more than just a touch of danger and the dark side to the traditional ‘panto baddie’ role and was very impressive.

Usually the driving force behind any panto, the Dame and her dozy son were somewhat sidelined in this pantomime, as their presence seemed to be a little shoehorned in to the narrative (the story of Sleeping Beauty doesn’t really lend itself to the traditional Dame/Sidekick roles) and as a result, their usual audience stirring antics seemed a little bit forced. Nursemaid to the royal baby, Hettie Harpic, was brought to life in fine style by Stephen Woods and the show’s general factotum Muddles came in the form of the tirelessly energetic Adam Parker. They were given their chance to shine in the schoolroom sequence but alas, not even performers of their calibre could rise above the thin material and make much out of the thin script. Nevertheless, Adam kept the audience entertained throughout with his cheery bonhomie and Stephen made for a great looking Dame!

Another energetic pairing came in the form of the Emmeline Greenwood and Lauren Downes as Fetch and Carrie. Two performers who really impressed and were a non-stop whirlwind of energy and excitement throughout the show, reeling off one terrible gag after another and flying around the stage from curtain up to finale. The King and Queen also made for a jolly couple, as played by Gary Haworth and Karen McNulty; Gary’s usual air of wanting nothing whatsoever to do with whatever is happening on stage was very much in evidence again here - his down to earth charms always tickle me - and Karen’s devil may care attitude to baby care was a tonic too. The young Princess was played with plucky fortitude by Georgia Smith, with Louis Price giving an appropriately ‘Rank Charm School’ performance as the young Prince Alexis. 

After what seemed like several centuries all rolled into one, the first half clattered to a less than edifying conclusion and the interval beckoned, enabling the audience to stagger out and see how the world had altered in the intervening decades since curtain up. Act Two was mercifully shorter and much more to the point and also had the benefit of Amy Singleton and Oliver Peck as the grown up Princess and her beau: some beautiful vocal work from Bacup’s singing sensations also helped to brighten up the second half too. By the end of the show, true love, honour and the requisite happy ending had all been restored. Eventually.

Bacup’s annual panto extravaganzas are always very friendly affairs with a community spirit at their heart. Dansworks came up trumps with stage filling routines and the whole show was a colourful spectacle. Colourful projections brought the stage to life and costumes were very impressive across the board too and - although as is well known by now - I always prefer a live band to backing tracks, the sound balance and choice of music was well handled. The whole affair looked sumptuous and had a lovely atmosphere which helped to go some way to entertain the large audience. 

Unfortunately, the choice of material rather scuppered the ‘pantomime’ feel of the show as there weren’t enough openings for the typical business one might expect (and the first half spent a VERY long time going absolutely nowhere!) Such bits of pantomime action which were managed to be shoehorned in felt laboured or flat and somewhat against the grain of the rest of the enterprise. The script itself was remarkably poor and defied all attempts by the cast to make anything of it and what humour there was to be found seemed almost to occur by accident rather than by design. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is destined to be something of a problem for adapting into something resembling ‘pantomime’ - certainly if the script used here is adhered to. 

There were some great performances and a great family friendly feel about the enterprise however and the capacity crowd seemed to enjoy themselves for the most part and for every dodgy scene or slow moving longueur, there was a redeeming moment or two never too far away. I feel sure that given more nourishing material to work with next year, Bacup’s proud panto tradition will be regained! 

 

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