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Sleeping Beauty

Author: Andrew Key

Information

Date
25th January 2020
Society
Heckington Players Amateur Dramatic Society
Venue
Heckington Village Hall
Type of Production
Pantomime
Director
Jo Warrick
Associate Director
Colette Buchanan-Gray
Choreographer
Debbie Savage
Producer
Mark Elsom

For a society to have its own in-house writer is a true gift, especially when it comes to pantomime as the whole thing fits so completely into the group and the venue, exploiting to the very full the strengths of each. And so it is at Heckington, with the inimitable Kei Bailey writing another masterpiece for the 2020 panto season. I remember his original version of Sleeping Beauty and was delighted to see it so effectively updated and adapted for this year. The sparkling script was fast paced, constantly moving the action on, incorporating time and space travel in a truly unique and effective way, neatly getting around the 100 year gap in the action.

As soon as the audience entered the hall the magic began with colourful bunting and panto-esque lighting provided by zoom wash moving head lights that turned from the stage to the audience at various points of the evening, bringing pantoland to the people. A lovely touch. Full marks as ever to Mark Elsom and Callum Thursby for their inspired lighting design. I’m purposefully mentioning the lighting first as it was so exceptional. Such an accomplishment for a village hall venue and worthy of the finest theatre. Well done. And a fitting tribute to the late Malcolm Billing, lighting technician for many years at Heckington, his passing recorded with a tribute in the programme. Equally, Mark’s sound plot was polished and accurate throughout.

 The audience gave a rousing round of applause as the panto started. They were obviously expecting a good night’s entertainment and they weren’t to be disappointed.

Colette Buchanan-Gray’s Fairy Bliss, was a darling. And a Scottish darling at that, Colette managing to maintain a convincing, lilting Scottish accent throughout, the Miss Jean Brody of Heckington. We were in safe hands. I really loved Colette’s singing and the sweet ending to Act One with all the fairies. We enjoyed beautiful melodies and crystal clear lyrics. Similarly Hannah Priestley’s Fairy Slumber was just right. Beautiful singing and dancing again.

To say that the opening scene was not typical for a panto would be an understatement. I can’t recall any other that starts with the actual birthing. Godfrey Barlow as the panicking Dr Goodblood was very funny, fainting as the baby arrived. The obligatory selfie with all the attending characters as the Queen lay back, legs akimbo, in the throws of labour said it all really. Thank goodness for the carefully positioned screen. The unrelenting pace of this opener set the tone and pace for the whole show.

Jump forward 21 years and we meet Princess Adora, played really effectively by Rachel Rowett. Her musical number ‘Get the Party Started’ with the junior chorus was just lovely. Debbie’s Savage’s choreography, as usual, was exceptional throughout the show and so advanced. It was amazing to see all the youngsters really going for it and enjoying it at the same time. Not an easy thing to achieve when you’re concentrating on all those steps. The children all projected their voices so well too when they had spoken lines, we heard every word. Prince Vincent played by Amy Ash cut a dashing figure. We loved the awkward ‘shall I tell her that I love her scene’. This scene was well paced, resisting the temptation to rush the lines and so spoil the effect. When it came to getting romantic advice no one could have been more helpful than one of the young lads in the junior chorus. Ellis from the Spindles group told us all his best chat up line and the audience loved it – as I’m assured they always do when Dylan gets to say the same lines from the Thorns group.

Dirk Dauntless (real name Kevin) in his oh-so-subtle bright orange suit was the person who helped keep the pace of the show up throughout. Aaron Pettican is a real star. His dancing was superb and his loveable, cheeky chappie outlook on life just made you want to smile. He had great timing with his jokes, brilliant interaction with the audience and wonderful facial expressions. His Rock crossed-with-New Romantic rendition of ‘The Final Countdown’ at the start of Act 2 with its tight synchronisation including all the juniors was a real highlight.

Writer Kei Bailey also played the dame, Nurse Nellie Nightingale in his own unique style. Amazing costumes throughout and so many. I especially loved the Tardis one, the lottery dress (if it’s a winner I could be in for a rollover)  and the hairstyle in the forest scene. A great introductory monologue with the audience: ‘Brexit’s been on more dates than me,’ one of my favourite lines. I loved the flashback naming ceremony (introduced a bit like the ones on All Round to Mrs Brown’s). Nurse Nellie’s increasing drunkenness was very good.  As always, Kei’s dame was a tour de force. He played it just right. Despite being really cheeky to the audience he remained our friend throughout. And there was some good improvisation, especially when it came to shouts outs for folk in the audience. ‘You’re from Ruskington, did you wipe your feet on your way out?’ and his retort when heckled more than once by the same audience member, ‘I always think its good when people donate their brains to medical science, perhaps you could have waited though until you’d died.’

As writer, it’s tempting to keep all the best jokes and humour for yourself when appearing in your production, but Kei was generous in his writing and shared them out liberally among the cast.

The character Sammy Snivel, the miserable court jester is a case in point. Stuart Wyle was able to garner laughs every time he did or said anything. A more insipid, thoroughly depressing and cantankerous court jester you would struggle to find. He had all the corniest jokes but we laughed, because he didn’t. Although the audience did their best to get him to crack a smile and loved it when he did. He reminded me of the wonderful children’s entertainer Mr Partridge in Hi-de-Hi, who hated children. His best reaction? His feigned fear when confronted by the wolf in the ghost gag scene.

Another character I loved was Kate Sydney’s Nurse Chloe Clavicle who took being thick to the next level. Kate is the master of comedy in panto who I’ve seen in so many comic roles and she always makes them her own. This year was no exception. ‘Nurse is reversing, nurse is gone’, innocuous lines but not when in Kate’s hands. Melissa Poulson’s Matron Clench (now there’s a name) with her witty sarcasm was the perfect contrast to Nurse Clavicle. And a lovely singing voice too Melissa.

Of course where’s there’s good people in panto land the wicked ones aren’t far behind. In Sleeping Beauty it is Dark Ada and Pimpleworm her sidekick, played so wonderfully by Jo Warrick (the Director) and Callum Thomas. I loved Dark Ada’s modern costume, almost a little Steampunk I thought and her superb makeup by Katie Calo. Pimpleworm’s rustic getup was a good contrast, complete with Trevor the fully qualified stunt slug. A very effective pairing of Jo and Callum who played really well off each other and had real stage presence.

The court of the King was populated with an array of colourful, rounded characters, taken on by an experienced cast. The King and Queen, Julian Warrick and Mel Priestley were suitably regal whilst at the same time enthusiastically joining in with the very modern dance routines, including the comedic ‘its your birthday’ comedy of the twerking Doctor, Dame, Nurse Chloe and Dirk. Mel’s drinking was very funny, including in the chase scene. Kelly Anderson was Lady Alison Blunt, the PrimeMinister who seemed to be chewing on a bag of nails and was beautifully pompous throughout in her multi coloured outfit.

Its no easy task to play the front, or back end of a panto horse but Sue Fletcher and Laura Griffin did just that. Great leg movements and reactions from Rupert the Horse who of course saves the day for everyone in the end. Well done ladies. If you didn’t know each other very well before Sleeping Beauty, you certainly will now.

The scenery for the panto was very artistically painted and fitted so well with the scenes being acted out. I especially liked the detail on the spaceship, not forgetting the very advanced looking console and the intricately designed woodland backdrop.  A very clever idea to incorporate time travel into the script, taking pantos to a place they very rarely go. The crashing of the ship was well acted and I loved it that as the lights faded, we saw the silhouette of poor Rupert trotting off the stage.

In Act Two the dance routines kept coming, all as polished as each other. The energy was still there, especially Aaron’s and especially in Hairspray’s ‘You Just Can’t Stop The Beat’ as the Princess is finally awoken with a Prince’s kiss. The finely tuned, obligatory in Heckington, chase scene was a work of art, especially the jester-led conga, the’ leave’ or’ remain’ and the hair straightener moment.

The emergency medical interlude with the frothing chemicals reminiscent of a children’s TV show and their effect on poor Dirk was well done as was the superhero and the ghost gags. The star of the ghost gag was young Eli in the audience who went ballistic when the on stage characters failed to heed his very vocal advise. Kei managed him wonderfully to the greatest effect. Eli really was the ‘Unexpected Star of the Show.’

As ‘Rolling on the River’ hailed the end of another panto in Heckington the cast threw everything into a well rehearsed and choreographed walk down.

Throughout, Stage Manager Callum Thursby and the whole stage team worked to make everything look so effortless as we flitted backwards and forwards in time and space. Well done for all the hard work. Equally the costumes were wonderful as always with a team of people all working on those. My thanks to all the people involved with the Youth Group too who looked after and organised all the children.

So hearty congratulations to Director and Associate Director Jo Warrick and Colette Buchanan-Gray who continued to uphold the very highest standard of panto that Heckington Players have established over so many years,

If you haven’t bought your ticket yet to this year’s production, I heartily recommend it to you. A terrific night out to panto land.

Andrew Key

 

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