The Ice Queen

Neale Winter clearly hit the nail on the head by writing a pantomime in the mould of ‘Frozen’ and although I haven’t seen the Disney film it’s impossible not to have heard of it.  It’s very difficult to make money on a show these days or even break even, but I understand from Chris that you sold around 1000 tickets so should be able to go forward into 2016 in a strong financial position.

As always the sets were splendid and the team are to be congratulated on their ideas and artistic ability. The grand houses and fountain in the first act and the backcloth of trees in the second act plus the dusting of ‘frost’ on everything created the scenes perfectly.

Fairy Sunbeam’s role was a little less prominent than the usual fairy-one is but Maggie Dean came across well as did her little trainees. I liked the fact that they had different personalities and they spoke up clearly.

Playing the baddie is not easy and Paula Gething might have been a little more frightening in the role. Her dialogue was delivered clearly but was not quite venomous enough.
Her two minions backed up her evil plots with enthusiasm.

Jerry Howell and Sarah Poore, who were able to boost the chorus after being frozen until their re-appearance at the end, made a credible royal couple as the King and Queen.
A different role for Mike this year playing the other un-likeable character and he made the most of his role as Prince Slimas.

Luke Pulfer was bursting with energy and engaged the audience each time he made an appearance as Benny. He is a seasoned performer – not easily thrown when things don’t go to plan, and he filled in admirably a few times endearing himself to the audience even more.
As Jenny, the desperately shy girl who is in love with Benny, Rachel Barnes was delightful. Both her acting and diction were very good.

Einstein and Edison, fun roles to play, were safe in the hands of Anthony Doggwiller and Affy Harris, with Affy giving a particularly good performance aided by some wonderful facial expressions.

Steve Smith made a good Dame Penny Whistle and recovered the situation to hilarity after he missed a couple of cues. The interaction with the two men in the audience (either real or imaginary!) added to the comedy in his role.

Anwen Fuller is a pleasure to watch on stage and whatever role she takes she does it naturally. She gave a lovely performance as Prince Thaw. Playing the Princess Crystal, Jess Taylor was good. She looked the part and had a nice singing voice but sang with an American accent, which was out of keeping with her dialogue.

Thomas Manley’s strength is comedy and he played the very camp, very pink Vince brilliantly. The audience loved him and he afforded much amusement in true pantomime style.
There were many named characters but I believe I’ve managed to mention the main ones. All the players added to the presentation of the production, and how wonderful to see so many young people on stage. Worthy of mention were the four girls who played the snowmen with each one portraying her individual character strongly.

Chorus numbers were well rehearsed and the choreography effective. The first chorus number was performed as one, and the song with the Dame when the men stepped forward to sing was very funny. I particularly liked ‘Jingle Bells’ too. The children in the audience loved the spider scene and the pace of the pantomime was generally good.

Sound and lighting worked well and the costumes were colourful and outrageous.

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Thank you for inviting me to see ‘The Ice Queen’ which contained all the necessary elements of a pantomime and I enjoyed it. It’s not an easy task to devise a show but Neale managed to produce something that clearly appealed to the public and also provided lots of opportunities for those taking part. He put a lot of thought into how he wanted to present the piece and the personality traits, for example in the snowmen and the trainee fairies, made them far more interesting for the audience to watch.

St. Hilda’s Entertainers worked hard both on and off stage to make an enjoyable entertainment for supporters and I expect ‘The Ice Queen’ will have earned quite a few more.

I wish you all a very peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2016.

E. Gloria Smith.
NODA South East Regional Representative – District 12

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