Sleeping Beauty

I do love a panto, and what better way to kick-start the 2018 panto season than with Harlequin’s Sleeping Beauty.  During the visit, it was lovely to hear that the production team for this Harlequin panto, Sleeping Beauty, was made up fully of past members, all returning and giving back to the club which they loved being a member of.  Their passion and dedication for the club and this production was evident through the enjoyment and energy of the cast.  Also the support and encouragement given behind the scenes from the committee to this production team was inspiring.  Congrats to Sands, David, Sarah and Kirsten on their achievement.  The stage at Eastwood was bursting at the seams with an impressively large cast made up from the senior and junior sections of the club.  This energetic and joyful ensemble were led by a talented group of principals.  Lucy Bastable as Princess Anastasia and Mark McLaughlin as Prince Nicky were a joy to watch as the principal girl and principal boy.  Bringing humour and the audience into the show was Sophie Aziz as funny girl Nadia Nodinov and Ruaridh Burns as Dame Nana Nodinov.  Nadia was in full control of working the audience and displayed so much energy in this role.  Ruaridh gave an excellent performance as the Dame with great comical timing and the ‘falling asleep gag’ used throughout was hysterical. Congrats to both for their excellent characterisations and audience interaction work.  The royal family was headed up by a dottery Tsar, played by Jonathan Anton, and a poised Tsarina played by Kara McQueen.  The relationship and interaction between Jonathan and Kara was very funny and worked well.  Not all was love and happiness with the evil Dragan interjecting into the story to steal the crown and royal throne.  Dragan the devilish dentist themed character was excellently portrayed by Joseph Cameron.  Every baddie needs a side kick and this came in the form of Dmitri played by Iain Mair, who balanced his gentle side of the character with the strength he used to stand up to Dragan, who we discover is his Dad, to help save the day.  Keeping an eye on the Princess and making sure that all was well, as in tradition to the story of Sleeping Beauty were the three fairies; Abbie Aziz as Fairy Tiktok keeping an eye on the clock and loving everything about time, Luisa Walker as our bubbly and excitable Fairy Tatyana, and Matthew King as the in charge and manly Fairy Elfin.  Supported with; a great set, bright costumes, and well executed physical panto gags, this was a fantastic panto.

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