Sleeping Beauty

First of all, let me say a heart felt congratulations on managing to return to the stage with your pantomime. I know, first hand, the problems Societies have faced over the last few years to simply keep the Society together let alone mange to rehearse and produce a show. For that alone, you should feel very proud.

This was my first visit to Horbury Pageant Players (to be honest, it’s the first time I’ve ever been to Horbury) and so, I had no idea what to expect. I have to say, that based on this production, I wish I’d been before. What a fabulous evening’s entertainment – this was pantomime at its traditional best. You even included 2 of my favourite routines- “If I Were Not in Pantomime” and a hilarious revamped version of the 12 Days of Christmas. So, a massive congratulations to the Director, Zoe Parkin, who also produced and looked after the music for the show and the choreographer, Emily Ritchie, for putting together a first class pantomime that cheered us all up on a wet and windy evening.

Sleeping Beauty is a difficult pantomime in that, usually, all the story is told in the first Act and then in Act 2 the Prince kisses the Princess and they live happily ever after. But Alan Frayn’s script dealt with that problem by introducing the Princess aged 12 and delaying the “death” by spinning wheel scene until Act 2. The downside was that we didn’t meet the Principal Boy and Girl until an hour into the pantomime. All in all, a much more balanced script.

The comedic heart of any pantomime is the dame and comedy lead – in this case – Thomas Allatt as Hettie Harpic and Jessica Allatt as Muddles. I understand this was Thomas’s first time as Dame? It certainly won’t be his last – he has such a natural talent with a great sense of comedy timing and delivery. I felt sorry for the poor audience member who was the subject of his attention – never sit near the front at a pantomime. It would have been nice to see him/her in a few changes of frock.

I’ve never seen Muddles played by a girl before but Jessica had the audience eating out of her hands. She had a wonderful and warm rapport with her audience. She came into her own during the songsheet.

Although we didn’t meet the Prince and Princess until near the end of Act 1, they stamped their mark on the show – both of them looked and behaved exactly as Principal Boy and Girl should, a very pretty Princess, and a strong, bold Prince. They both had delightful singing voices, which blended nicely in their duets.

Additional comedy was supplied by Fetch (Daniel Allatt) and Carrie (Lauren-Rose McKee) – I loved their routine with the town names. Clever script and extremely well delivered. (What a talented family the Allatts are!)

Every pantomime needs the battle of good versus evil, and this one certainly delivered that – Emmi Huffinley, as the very glamorous Good Fairy Lilac and Sue Pickering, as Bad Witch Hazel, certainly knew how to elicit the cheers and boos from the audience. And, they both had great singing voices during their respective musical numbers. And, I’m a pantomime traditionalist  so it was good to see them making their entrances and exits from their respective sides of the stage.

Looking very regal and pompous were King Cactus (Barry Ottewell) and Queen Marigold (Jo Sykes) –  they added a suitable dignity to the pantomime.

Finally, well done to the young members of the cast – the four Rainbow fairies (Mya John, Kadie Spivey, Jessica Robinson and Chloe Biro-Pickering) looked delightful and Penny Parkin, as the 12 year old Princess Rose. She had a lot of bottle to make her first appearance onto the stage singing a solo number, and what a beautiful job she made of “When I Grow Up”.

All of this would have come to nothing without the people working behind the scenes on lighting (Matt Roberts), sound (Grant Rayner & Matthew Hampshire), Makeup (Karen Huffinley & Madison Newton), Props/Set (Barry Ottewell, Arthur Lumb & Ken Sugden),  Costumes (Amy Day and Rachel Ling) and masterminded by the Stage Manager, Arthur Lumb. There was some very imaginative use of projection that enhanced the lighting.

Thank you for asking to me make my first, but hopefully not last, visit to Horbury Pageant Players.

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