Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty by Ben Crocker is a pantomime about King Norbert and Queen Dorothy trying to shield their lovely daughter (Princess Aurora) from the wicked Carabosse.  The action takes us from the Royal Palace to the Palace Gardens, Carabosse’s Lair, songs and dances, struggles, fights, deception and audience interaction, all  ending up with a sing-along and a royal wedding. 

The make-up was outstanding.  Carabosse’s hair and make-up emphasised her wickedness and there was a nice contrast between the “good” and “evil” cats thus assisting them to establish their different characters.  The use of make up for the Zombie dancers was excellent.  The talent and experience of the Director was evident throughout the production who marshalled some great performances from the cast: Claire Humphreys was superbly evil as Carabosse accompanied by her wicked cat Spinkelshanks – a fine performance from Jo Simpson.   Isobel Frost gave a charming performance - with lovely facial expressions and body language - as the silent cat, Kitty.  There was a delightful partnering of Princess Aurora (Faith Albrecht) and Prince Orlando (Charley Henkey) particularly during their song: “Until I Met You”.  The audience’s friend, Billy (Oli Williams) was a breezy presence and moved the action along nicely.  Roy Glancey did particularly well in his first outing as the dame, Queen Dorothy, and there were lots of comic moments: the cake making scene (complete with pop up rat!) sword fighting, swooning heroines and general slapstick and banter.    With some lively dance sequences – including Dreamland, some rats and zombies and great support from the servants and villagers, this was an energetic production and a lot of fun.

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