Sleeping Beauty The Panto

When you go to see a Melo pantomime from the pens of Rowan Alfred, Peta Riley and Huw Nadin you know you are about to see something that is completely different and definitely completely off the wall! And not to be disappointed, so it was with their version of Sleeping Beauty, where the traditional plot of Aurora, here renamed Ariola, being put to sleep by the prick of a spinning wheel is augmented by the addition of a family of muck spreaders, whose hygiene is somewhat questionable, befriending both Princess Ariola and her brother, the wonderfully named Prince Montgomery Amplefunbags. Add in a Goat, a bearded Dame, an evil Granny, also bearded; a square table with a crystal ball and a whole lot of trades people including the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker and the nonsense in the brilliantly named land of ‘F’nee’ unfolded to hilarious effect.

The set, built by David Alexander, Neill Pleasants, Kevin Rawlins and Ken Smith, which served all scenes was basically a well painted stylised woodland with, unusually no front of curtain scenes, which worked surprising well and certainly helped this very fast paced show. The back wall was netting which had lights strung throughout. Lighting by Doug Deboys appropriately lit the set very well and sound by Winds and Reys Stagecraft was loud and crystal. Add in some excellent props by Phillipa Patel and Cveta Pavlin such as a sliding square table with a crystal ball sticking out of it (no, I’d not seen one before either!) and the magic land of F’nee was set to go.

Costumes by Peta Riley, Kathryn Duncan, Penny Lusha were all very well sourced and some, especially the tops for the Muck Spreaders being covered in dung were very amusing. Our Dame, Jacinda Honeypot stuck to the same very striking yellow and red costume and that incredible matching hair piece throughout. Our baddie Granny Cackle’s outfit with the luminescent green on her cloak with green fluorescent gloves and long hocked nose looked particularly evil. And not to forget the fantastic horned Goat costume.  And the head pieces were extremely well matched, with appropriate feathered cap for the Narrator, crowns and tiaras for the royals to the witch’s hat and  the globe effect for the Crystal Ball. Excellent job!

Music, which was all home written or adapted by Musical Director, the very talented Rowan Alfred and Peta Riley are always going to be forefront with every Melo panto and this was no exception. The dance numbers were particularly vibrant and confidently belted out, and as most of the dialog was underscored, very much showing the Musical Theatre roots of this group. And the band, were of course absolutely top notch with, Rowan Alfred on Keys, George Ducker on Violin, Electric Guitar and Synth, Beth Warburton on Cello and Ian Tipping on Bass Guitar.  Add in choreography by Emma Driscoll, which was a definite highlight of this production, was very well drilled, with some clever routines and pretty much spot on and certainly great to watch.

The acting was absolutely full on and very fast paced. Peta Riley as the Narrator guided us through the show with very well delivered comedy, such as, ‘The King was left to bring up his two children all on his own,’ (big ‘Ah!’ from the audience), then the well delivered punchline ‘With the help of about two hundred servants!’ James Nichol (King Richard Amplefunbags), Leah Brock (Princess Ariola Amplefunbags) and James Tortise-Crawford (Prince Montgomery Amplefunbags) were an excellent royal entourage.

Our country bumpkin Muck Spreaders with their fabulous local-yokel accents, Beth Chappel (Charlotte Muckspreader) and Emma Driscoll (Wiffy Muckspreader) gave us the other end of the social spectrum with great energy and voice. Wolfie Hammerbacker, (Our Dame Jacinda Honeypot) looking for her romantic ‘victim’ from the audience, (A NODA reps annual humiliation time!) was larger than life. And Tom Monkhouse crept around bent double stirring trouble and eliciting boos in spades as the evil Granny Cackle assisted by Kacey Munns, Katie Kitson, and Olivia LaRoche as the voice and actions of the Mega-Cackle.

Anna Gilbert, as the Crystal Ball, slid sideways onto the stage poking her head out of table adorned with a red tablecloth adding sublime comedy as she continually advised and corrected Granny Cackle, who wasn’t too please with some of her advice. Add in a Goat (Emmeline Lyster), which I couldn’t really see the point of in the plot, but she certainly increased the chuckle levels just from her very Goat like pose. Loved it!

The Chorus given the great title in the programme as ‘The F’nee Thatch:’ Tom Kirkbride (Butcher), Kathryn Duncan (Baker), Anne-Marie King (Undertaker) and Katie Kitson (Candlestick Maker), Olivia LaRoche and Kacey Munns (Villagers/Guards) were a very well-coordinated and drilled unit, if a little dumb by all getting pricked by a spinning wheel!

As well as some very humourous double entendre dialogue and play on words, such as turning Louis Vuitton into Pooey Vuitton, this was more a tongue-in-cheek story about friendships: the Prince with Wiffy and Ariola with Charlotte rather than the traditional love story cumulating with the walkdown wedding ending, although Dame Jacinda and King Richard did get to together (much to the disappointment/relief of the Noda rep), which did make a refreshing change and was certainly different.

There was an excellent online programme by Tim Powers accessed via a QR code, a practice becoming more common across societies, which sadly didn’t transfer well to paper, and I was very surprised that, considering the high standard this society has set over the last few years, it was nowhere near a full house.

So, well done to Co-directors Rowan Alfred and Huw Nadin, and fellow writer Peta Riley. Clearly sanity doesn’t figure in your thinking and writing, but by goodness it sure is top quality panto and entertainment that could grace any theatre in the land.

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