Sleeping Beauty

This Show written by Melanie Stephen & Patrick Stephen was full of the usual characters associated with this well-known fairy tale including plenty of local references and corny jokes.

The story was told to us by Fairy Lullaby delightfully played by Natalie Higgins assisted by some smaller fairies creating sparkle and magic throughout. Her adversary Maleficent (Amanda Marsden) was magnificent in swooping around the stage in stunning black and purple, she had the audience booing her from the first appearance.

There was plenty of comedy led by the Dame Nurse Nelly Nightingale played by Gareth Jones with many outrageous costumes and wigs assisted by her son Jumbles the Jester (Patrick Stephen). I thought the icing scene was very clever and the audience really appreciated the icing sugar from the speaking tube. There was lots on fun also from Arthur(JP Totham), Martha(Hannah Cochrane) and King Seymour(David Rogers). The song If I Were Not in Pantomime with actions, was very slick and well done, one of the best I have seen.

Sleeping Beauty in this case Princess Aurora (Sophie Holroyd) and Prince Alexander(Cerys Jones) looked good together and harmonised well. The Prince being a very good thigh slapping traditional Principal Boy.

Sprinkles the Dog (Olivia Griffin) left his mark on the stage and was the best dog costume I have seen. Other characters were Aurora’s worst mother in the world Queen Crystal (Jane Griffin) and King Hubert the Prince’s father King Hubert (Nick Thatcher) the duplicitous duo who both took selfishness to extreme.

The singing and dancing was excellent, I particularly enjoyed the dance in the school room to the Madness music. The stage many times filled with youngsters who were clearly enjoying the experience. Congratulations to Choreographer Amanda Marsden. Jane Griffin produced costumes which were colourful and sparkly. The staging was slick and organised led by Stage Manager Chris Dearden with his crew and also some of the actors and dancers.

Congratulations to Director Melanie Stephen and Asst. Director Patrick Stephen. I really enjoyed the Show.

Well done to all concerned

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