Sleeping Beauty

It’s definitely Panto time again and Polegate certainly didn’t disappoint with their production of this well loved tale of a princess who went to sleep for 100 years and was awoken by a kiss from a handsome prince.  So much happened in between of course and all those taking part certainly brought the story to life – the age old story of the battle between good and evil.

So, we have to have a Good Fairy and Airy Fairy played by Shannon Victoria was a delight.  Her adversary, Carabosse, was presented by Indigo Jackson as the brother of Old King Cole rather than a wicked female fairy.  This worked well and he was extremely wicked!

There has to be someone in charge of what goes on in a royal castle and Yvonne Corbishley was an ideal Major Pompous who introduced Old King Cole and his Queen to the mix.  They were played by Stewart Patient and Linda Kinghorn with due regality.

Where would a Panto be without a Dame?!  This time Adam Riggs gave his Dame Nurse Nanny Nora Nighty to great acclaim, wearing amazing frocks and giving us lots of laughs.  Mcauley Parker was her son Muddles – well named!  A lovely comic performance.

Of course the Baddie always has to have a couple of henchmen to do his dirty work so Dench and Hench came along in this capacity and Laura Catchpole and Ashley Jones certainly gave these parts all that was needed.

Last but certainly not least we come to Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora.  Oliver Jacquet gave the part of the Prince a great deal of panache and Jamie Leigh-Jenkins is to be congratulated on taking over the part of the Princess at very short notice due to illness – a lovely performance.

Rather than seeing the whole court asleep we were treated to their dream sequences which was quite different.

The chorus, although small, certainly added a lot to the proceedings which included some lovely dancing. 

Scenery, costumes, lighting , programme and all the myriad jobs that have to be done backstage were carried out in excellent fashion by the creative team and the band led by Musical Director Marc Charlton accompanied everything throughout with gusto.  We must never forget those who work front of house – everything carried out extremely well.

Nicola Cullen directed and choreographed the piece- the panto was also written by Nicola and Ryan Tate – always lovely to see something really home grown.  Congratulations to all involved for another successful Polegate Panto.

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