The Grinch, The Panto

I had not previously seen the pantomime version of this show, obviously Inspired by Dr Seuss's famous character, however this was very much a traditional pantomime featuring classic jokes, a great selection of well-known musical numbers, and of course, audience participation many of us getting soaked by water guns!  We literally laughed out loud when the Dame spectacularly messed up on a key punchline, thankfully he did manage to ad-lib and recover well whilst the adults in the audience were still rocking with uncontrollable laughter.

Mark Cornaby played the grumpy Grinch, delighting the audience when he mistakenly got into a terrible tangle with his beard. Layla Rogers took on the role of Pinchit, she impressed me with her confident stage presence and expressive voice. Jack Chambers delivered an exemplary performance as the dame, Nora Good. Sadly, this marks Jack’s final appearance with YOS, he concluded his involvement with a memorable performance, his comedic timing was excellent as always and executed with appropriate flair and nuance. James Berryman was great as Charlie Chuckle, and Ebony Jones gave a lovely performance as the Snow Queen. Annie Good was played well by Phoebe Mason.

The second half commenced with a skilfully executed puppet show. The puppeteers, dressed in black, expertly manipulated the puppets throughout the scene. The opening scene featuring Whoville was particularly well rehearsed, as was Leticia Thorpe-Brown’s portrayal of ‘Widget’ leading "Here Comes Santa Claus" alongside the elves. Costumes throughout were as always excellent, especially in the Snow Queen’s palace scene.

I really enjoyed seeing so many familiar cast members who have grown in confidence, along of course with some new performers. Rather than listing every name from the program, I would like to commend the entire cast for their performance. The whole cast looked as if they were really enjoying themselves and it was clear just how much the audience enjoyed it too, a testament to the hard work of not only the production team but also all those working tirelessly behind the scenes to bring the show to fruition.

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