Cinderella

This year’s pantomime from St Paul’s Players was Cinderella written by Alan P Frayn which was a great example of a real traditional pantomime. Most of us know the much-loved tale of the young women whose father remarries after the death of her mother and she finds herself at the mercy of her stepmother and her scheming step-sisters, but she doesn’t give up hope. Then her fortunes begin to change when she meets first an old woman and then a dashing young man in the woods. There have been many versions of this story, but the best known of these is the one found in the collection of folk tales from the Brothers Grimm called Grimm’s Fairy Tales published in 1812.

Directed by Graham Cohen, Produced by Jane Harrison and with excellent and lively choreography from Lorraine Robinson who was assisted by Pearl Williams this was a very enjoyable production with lots of very funny wonderful characters and was full of laughter. All the cast produced excellent performances working together with no weak links and everyone looked as if they were really enjoying themselves meaning the audience did as well. The cast included the very talented Emily Jones as a lovely Cinderella, Emily had a beautiful singing voice and she was complemented in her role by Orlaith O’Bierne as Prince Charming who also sang very well, their voices blended nicely during their duets and they made a very good Pantomime leading couple. Becca Hilton as Dandini the Prince’s Valet and friend also worked well with Orlaith and Keith Brian was spot on as Cinderella’s hen-pecked father Baron Hardup with Siobhan Edge as the Baroness her stepmother who was unusually for this story quite a likable character. Gareth Mabon made a very good Buttons and had a great rapport with the audience as did the very funny double act of Leanne Romney as Leggett and David Greenfield as Bodget two barmy builders. Jacqui Brian as Fairy G was every child’s dream of the Pantomime Fairy Godmother and Debbie Leyland was authoritative as Chambers the Lord Chamberlain. Lastly but definitely not least we have Dax Owen as Grizelda and Kieron Garlick as Gertrude who were outstanding and outrageously funny as the wicked Ugly Sisters, they were able to think on their feet responding to the audience expertly. The young chorus which included children of varying ages supported the principle cast admirably, performing the up to date energetic choreography with lots of enthusiasm. All the musical numbers were performed impressively and were accompanied by backing tracks which worked very well. Scenery was excellent as is usual with this society and was just right for the production and along with good technical input and very colourful costumes added to the success of this very enjoyable production

Congratulations to Graham Cohen and to everyone involved both backstage and front of house who brought this excellent production to the stage. You certainly engaged and carried your audience with you, as they demonstrated  their appreciation very vocally joining in with all the action, which is a sign of a successful Pantomime

 Thank you very much for inviting us we had a lovely enjoyable evening

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