Sleeping Beauty

We have seen many of Needham’s Pantos over the years,  which are very much traditional  family shows, and this was no exception, involving  several generations of  families on stage together, this format succeeded once  again.   This script, written by Julie Petrucci and Chris Shinn,  had the Narrator  Granny,  (Linda Ruby)  sitting in a rocking chair to the side of the stage.  A lady obviously well versed in the tradition of Panto, she  certainly succeeded in getting her audience  to engage with the cheering and booing and  there was certainly plenty to cheer and  boo about.

The wicked Zelda Blackadder  played by Sarah Ruby,  looked fabulous in her black and red costume and wig  and was equally fabulous in her characterisation  and singing.  Her sidekick,  Spaldrick (Wendy Simmonds) a familiar face in Needham’s Pantos;  with warts and all;  was a very believable comedy character.  I particularly  liked the song they sung together,  with their version of  ‘A Policeman’s Lot is not a Happy One’.   The Dame, Dotty Doo-Right played by Simon Hughes  and  the Court Jester (Glyn Bolton) were  both good,  colourful, comedy characters , and worked well together. Glyn was supposed to be a secret agent in disguise,  helping to keep the Princess  safe. He had obviously   studied his character well,   basing it on a classic American  Bodyguard,  combined with  James Bond type poses and verbal quips.   The traditional  King and Queen  played by Frank Lea and Ruth Coomber,   looked splendid in their royal robes.  Princess Aurora  (Gemma Marshall)  inevitably pricks her finger on the spinning wheel  and is awoken  with a kiss by Prince Valiant (Sarah France) after  he had been  rescued  from the Enchanted Forest.  Mention must also go to Victoria, the Princess’s Companion who was very convincing in her role and  along with Feathers, (Tom Coomber)who was keeper of the Royal Pigeons which kept landing at his feet.  Also Fairy Diamond (Rebekah Holland) who must be congratulated on her delivery of the tongue twister about dewdrops. The numerous  Fairies and Juniors  all did well and were confident in their singing and dancing routines.  A big improvement this year,  in their co-ordination of movement and volume of singing, not an easy thing to achieve with young children,  so very well done to the choreographer and directors.

Judy Cairns had done well in an innovative choice of songs and all the characters did well in their projection without the use of individual microphones. The scenery is always very good and the set for Zelda’s Zone which was transformed from a UV blackout scene to a cobwebbed room was very effective.  The costumes and lighting  all looked  good.

This year’s Panto was dedicated to the memory of Pat Cross who passed away suddenly at the end of last year. Pat had joined the Company in 1999 and taken part in all the performances since that date.  She was famous in the Village for her comedy Panto roles, but the show must go on and I’m sure Pat would have been proud of you all with this year’s production.  Well done to you all.

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