Sleeping Beauty

I do love the pantomime season and I was looking forward to seeing this production.  I was not disappointed;  The show was a traditional pantomime in every sense of the word and fun to watch.   The Director, Julie Jordan, didn’t miss a trick and the show was filled with great comedy moments that had the audience participating from the very start. The cast, who were all excellent, were obviously having great fun performing and this came across to the audience. It made a nice change to see a different person playing The Dame this year.  Mark Barnes did real justice to the part with all the right approaches to the audience, especially the children, with great enthusiasm, lovely costumes and all the correct ‘patter’ guaranteed to make the audience laugh. His ‘sparring partner’ Jack Winrow as Oddjob, played the sort of part we have grown to expect from him.  He is a master in his craft and comes up with the goods every time. A huge asset to any society. The Community Song was a triumph. It’s always difficult to single out individuals in this type of show but I must compliment Tracey Shaughnessy, the witches son Gormless being very aptly named, who managed to combine comedy with the meanness of the panto ‘baddie’.  Zoe Saunders played the other baddie, the wicked Witch, with great style being completely ‘over the top’ both singing and acting. I loved her manic approach but found her very strident voice a little wearing after a time. The three Fairy Godmothers, Judith Mason-Griffiths (Bounty), Debs Ravera (Smartie) and Kizzie Ravera (Wispa) made a great team, each with a contrasting character. King Rumbletum and Queen Gigglebelly, Peter Woodman and Emma Godden, behaved very appropriately for their names and their daughter, Princess Beauty acted her part well and sang her solo delightfully. Kate Rodriques produced a great cameo performance as the Panda, her timing in the comedy pieces and her reactions were priceless.   Finally I must mention Zoe Green and Jamie Cranfield, the Prince and his Valet, two very different personalities, the first very manly and attractive and the second highly amusing. All the other characters and the ensemble were simply excellent and the entire production showed what can be done when a cast works together under good direction. The scenery was simple and clever and the scene changes were executed smoothly and quickly, the whole show had good pace and the lighting and sound spot on.  The costumes were excellent, well co-ordinated and lovely to look at. My favourite piece was the wonderful UV scene which worked brilliantly. Well done all.               

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