Sleeping Beauty
Information
- Date
- 14th December 2022
- Society
- Ferryhill Stage Society
- Venue
- Bishop Middleham Village Hall
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Director
- Ian Patterson
- Musical Director
- Wendy Hindmarch
- Choreographer
- Abby Monaghan
- Written By
- Josh Railton
It’s panto season! Oh yes it is….sorry couldn’t resist!
The District 4 pantomime season was kicked off at Ferryhill Stage Society with their version of Sleeping Beauty at Bishop Middleham Village Hall. After a drive up in the dark and a snow blizzard it was a relief to arrive to their incredibly friendly welcome and being handed a glass of wine. Lovely and much appreciated. Also a raffle win - no complaints here!
A lovely family and community pantomime written by local writer Josh Railton and brought to life by Director Ian Patterson, was received with recognisable songs, beautiful costuming and wonderful bright smiles from the cast. The choreography was well presented, well rehearsed, confident and well performed, though do be careful about using choreography taken directly from professional productions, you never know who could be watching (Spread the Love).
The Fairies were fab, played by Sarah Gray, Sadie Morley and Robyn McGough and provided the narrative, storytelling and of course the comedy especially from the confident Fairy Merriweather. Sarah Gray was especially strong in her role, providing a lovely singing voice and comedic timing which kept the pace throughout and certainly kept me chuckling.
Prince Phillip played by Faye Rogerson was confident and looked fantastic on stage with flattering costuming and a lovely singing voice and perfectly complimented Vicky Tweddle playing Princess Aurora who had the little girls sat behind me absolutely transfixed as the beautiful princess. I really enjoyed “Alone in the Universe” especially.
However the star of the show was Wendy Hindmarch in the role of the baddie Carabosse. Always performing with confidence and style, but in this role able to bring out the comedic baddie and lapping up the boos she encouraged from the audience. Wendy was utterly fabulous in this role and I loved her! Well done Wendy.
The role of the traditional dame “Nursey” was taken on by Kayomi Koya who performed with humour and confidence, never taking herself seriously and providing great comic relief. Lufnis was played by Leanne Evans providing the slapstick comedy and perfectly complimenting Carabosse, working really well together. “How Lucky” was especially a favourite with great comedy throughout.
Costumes were great, bright and full of sparkle and glitter, exactly what you need for a pantomime. I loved the choreography for “Don’t Stop Me Now” especially which ended Act 1. “It’s Raining Men” was bright and colourful with great use of umbrellas as props on stage, no mean feat in a reasonably small space and “Thriller” was great also. “You” was a great ensemble number with everyone joining in and “Walking on Sunshine” was a wonderfully uplifting choice which we all enjoyed with very energetic choreography. Really well chosen songs to compliment the well known tale of Sleeping Beauty.
The traditional 12 days of Christmas number was especially fun and utterly chaotic especially when used with a track but Robyn McGough especially had me howling with laughter, I’m sure there was still mascara down my face when I got home, partially from laughing and partially from being caught square in the face by a supersoaker!
The cast were complimented by Elsie McGowan as Queen Knowitall, Steve Hill as the herald, Kallie Henderson as Prince Steven, Ella Connelly as Prince Edward, David Stothard as King Underthumb, Lily Dent, Alan Gray and the beautiful dancers Abby Monaghan and Amy Squire.
It was sometimes a little hard to hear some of the cast but the fun was absolutely evident. We all loved it! I’m the first to admit I’m not the world’s greatest panto fan but I did thoroughly enjoy my evening at Ferryhill. Lovely community family fun. Thank you all and a have a lovely Christmas!
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