Sleeping Beauty

The Bramrocks had not performed a Pantomime since 2019, and it was great to see this small group back and strong with a growing membership. Director David Middleton shows the driving force and enthusiasm behind so many village drama groups with the support of a dedicated team drawn from the local population. This was my first panto outing of the season in my district, and the audience on opening night was full of supporting residents in a cosy venue.

This version of Sleeping Beauty was written by Tom Whalley, whom I believe had sent the cast his best wishes prior to opening night. There were a lot of local themed jokes thrown into the script, along with a sprinkling of innuendos aimed at a more mature audience. 

With a small stage, the set was simple, lighting and costumes good. I was sat behind MD Stephen Cox on keyboard, ably assisted by Isobel Cox. Was nice to have a chat with Stephen at the interval.

The cast of 11 had a good mixture of young performers with the adults. Pearl Adby (as the Junior Bake-off Champion and chorus), along with Eleanor and Daniel Coyle in chorus, smiled every time they came on stage- it warmed my heart to see the future stars of amateur theatre taking some of their first steps.  

Of the adults, Louise Venn, as Fairy Nuff, kept the story moving along nicely, with Nicky Grint as the evil witch Carabosse (who had to endure numerous variations of this name throughout), delivering a lot of the “oh yes I did” moments. I overheard that Nicky Grint had come in as a late stand in for this role, had not been on the stage for many years, and I admired her confidence throughout to pull this off.

Courteney Potter as Princess Beauty delivered an enchanting performance, as she measured up the attentions being given to her by the amorous Prince Ferdinand (Alex Triguinho), and that of the lovelorn and ever hopeful Chester the Jester (Marne Causton). Marne delivered a lot of the punchy jokes well.

Alex delivered an excellent portrayal of a handsome, vein but “not the one” character. Every time Alex stepped on stage his acting and reactions to the ongoing story were delivered with great timing and facial expression. An example of this was, when he got close to the needle on the spinning wheel, backed off, stared at the item and pointed his finger at it as if to say, “you’re not getting me!”. David told me that this was Alex’s first foray into panto, and he got the concept spot on.

I also enjoyed the character played by Stewart Thompson as Queen Philomena, nothing over the top, but subtle and funny, akin to Julian Clary.

Also supporting in the chorus were Sarah Carter and Linda Brand.

Thank you, David, and Bramrocks for an enjoyable evening.

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.