Sleeping Beauty

Pantomime must be many young people’s first experience of the theatre: I remember booing the baddies, joining in with the shouting and singing, and cowering under a fusillade of boiled sweets.  The sweets have gone, alas, although whether that’s down to Covid or wider Health and Safety concerns I’m not sure.  But the other elements of traditional pantomime are all present and correct in The Sinodun Players’ retelling of the classic fairy tale, “Sleeping Beauty”.

It’s quite a long show but a lot has been packed in, including an extraordinary number of puns and gags, most of which are quite funny.  There’s a little bit of subtle innuendo, and a few moments of contemporary satire – I enjoyed the observation that tennis-playing Australians are good at returning Serbs, and the question about whether a party was actually a work event – but this is resolutely a show for all the family.  There’s slapstick, audience participation, community singing, and a closing walkdown with a complete change of costumes.  What’s not to like?

The conception of the staging is quite brilliant.  The house opens with a huge book – “Sleeping Beauty” – dominating stage left.  The exposition – mostly written in verse, with the dialogue in prose – takes place in front of the closed book, but then the cover is opened to provide a V-shaped pop-up-book-style backdrop to the action, complete with doors cut into it.  The illustrative style is maintained throughout the production, and backed up with details such as the unapologetically two-dimensional candelabra.  The Players are indeed fortunate to be able to call on such a talented group of set designers, builders and artists, and to have the workshop facilities to realise such imaginative and beautiful settings.

It was all rather magical really, the more so for theatres having been dark this time last year.  Pantomime is easily devalued or derided, but when it is done well – and here it was done very well - pantomime has the power to enthuse, to enchant, and to entertain.  The Sinodun Players have marshalled the formidable talents of their community, and staged a show that will surely draw the next generation into the theatre.

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