Sleeping Beauty

I love being in Pantoland which is just as well as Sleeping Beauty at Hailsham was my third one in just under a week!  There was a great deal of fun to be had here with so many excellent performances from your talented cast.

As soon as we sat down on your opening night the atmosphere indicated that we were in for a good time with the arrival of quite a few children who were obviously going to enjoy themselves.  The age old tale of the Princess under a spell and sleeping for a 100 years until being woken by a handsome Prince can be enough in itself but this version had added extras with Princess Rose being looked after in a cottage in a wood until she was nearly 16 years of age where visitors included other delightful fairy story characters and later on a hilarious scene on Easter Island, cannibals and all!

The villain, Deadly Nightshade, played by Dave Williams had of course, already made sure in no uncertain terms that Princess Rose was going to come to a sticky end but the three Fairy Godmothers were always on hand to make sure that this didn’t happen.  Great fun ensued with Marilyn Chandler, Diane Morris and Natalie Dardashti as Fairy Lilac, Fairy Lavender and Fairy Lupin combining in rhyme with the exception of Fairy Lupin who really hadn’t got hold of the idea of speaking in verse, so necessary for a spell to work.

Princess Rose and Prince William were played with style and rapport by Paige Bethany and Lauren Hollands – both definitely Principal Boy and Girl material.

Comedy there was aplenty with a great deal coming from Winifred Slaptickle who  definitely had an eye for the boys!  Christopher Peck got every ounce of fun out of his performance as Dame with some really amazing costumes.  Rob Taylor played Harry the Jester who was also full of fun.  Lovely snivelling performance from Guy Quickenden as the Baddie’s sidekick Snivel, and Sandra Pink and Nigel Baird performed regally as Queen Camellia and King Basil.  Last but not least the man who played three parts – Clive Hale as Harbour Master, Captain and Herald, the whole cast being very well supported by Judith Brooke and the Panto Band.

Douglas Morgan designed the ideal set which was constructed by Gareth Butland and his team and everyone working backstage, either in the run up to the show or the actual performances are to be congratulated for all they do.  Thanks to them and particularly Director Clive Hale, Musical Director Judith Brooke and Choreographer Marie Saxby, Hailsham have produced another lovely offering for this time of the year.                                                                   

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