Sleeping Beauty

~~I suppose I am a big kid at heart as I do enjoy a good pantomime and this was the first one for me and a nice way to step into the season.
This was my first visit to Saint Austin’s Players and I hope it will not be my last as this was filled with all the usual “He’s Behind You”, "Oh Yes it is" etc and shouts and cheers from the audience which we have come to expect of a good traditional panto.
We had the usual characters in King Wayne played by Joe Greco and Queen Colleen played by Jane Bryant, not the usual names you would expect for a King and Queen but they fitted the bill and they were both able to get the most out of their respective characters.
Of course no panto is complete without a larger than life Dame and we certainly had one in the guise of Stephen Waite as Nurse Nelly, he, or should I say she, was able to get every ounce of humour from this part as well as coping well with the odd quip from the audience members.
In the “Simple Simon” character we had John de Tute as Bobbins, again not the usual name for this character but then this was no typical panto. John worked very well with Stephen as Nurse Nelly, and I am sure they were able to read each other’s minds at times which comes with many years experience and this showed while they were on stage, again John had the audience in the palm of his hands from the word go.
One of the little touches of this script was having more than one fairy and Elves, or should that be Helves? All these worked very well together and were able to bounce off each other’s lines plus I think one or two ad-libs thrown in for good measure. I also enjoyed Fi Welburn as Carabosse, she had just the right amount of evilness about her so as not to be too frightening to the little audience members.
No good pantomime is complete without a loving couple in the Principal Boy and Girl roles and Sophie May as Princess Aurora and Emma Walker as Prince Florimond we perfect including a number of thigh slapping moments throughout the show. They worked very well and complimented each other in their characters and songs.
 All in all a good pantomime which the audience loved and were able to get into the spirit of the night with their cheers and boos in all the right places.
 

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