The Little Mermaid

As the Band struck up the first few opening chords of “Shut Up and Dance”, at Thetford Players’ annual panto, I had a feeling that I was in for a special treat, and I was not disappointed. The band, consisting of MD Maddie Stebbings, Jamie Mitchell, Ben Thompson, and Frankie Soan, were fantastic throughout, crisp, clear (Sound Engineer Arron Peters) and powerful.

Mother of Pearl (Charlie Wilson), set the scene by delightfully opening the story, and then throughout the show kept the audience entranced.

As the curtains opened, the audience were immersed within the underwater world of Queen Neptuna. The set consisted of various quality and detailed back cloths, brought out by very effective use of lighting. Costumes were outstanding, in particular I liked the nice little touches, where a jellyfish sometimes floated across the stage, and then later a smaller member of the cast raced across as a baby shark. It all added to the feeling that the audience were submersed with the cast beneath the ocean.

The Choreography (Charley Holt) throughout the show was excellent, some of the numbers of which included the youngest members of the cast-everyone had been drilled so well as a company, it was visually very impressive.

Thetford Players’ Youth performers were out in force for this panto, the leading roles of Ariel and Prince Finn being shared equally over the 6 shows, an example of the strength in depth that they have. For this performance, Imogen Graves was Ariel, and Emily Mortimer was Prince Finn. For the other performances, the roles were played by Felicity Gilby (Ariel), and Reece Pope (Prince Finn). 

Imogen and Emily displayed a maturity on stage well beyond their years, well cast opposite each other. Imogen delivered a beautiful rendition of “A Drop in the Ocean”, with Charlie and Lexi Brien (Pearl), and then followed it up in Act 2 with a very nice duet of “Shallow” with Emily. And for the pair to remain straight-faced as Ariel mimed to her Sister Persil’s hilarious rendition of “My Heart Will Go On”, was an achievement in itself.

There were so many strong performances in this production, from Emma Kelly as Queen Neptuna, Summer-Brooke Harvey as Davy, Martin Godfrey as Jones, and Lexi Brien as Pearl. As Thermidor, Phil Pearson delivered a lot of the gags and looked great in his costume, a lovely part to play and very well delivered.  

As Admiral C. Weed, Ray Kurn was brilliant, but it was his on-stage chemistry with Persil, the Dame, that I will come back to in the final paragraph.

And now to the first of two outstanding performances:  As the evil Octavius, Zoran Hanitzsch had me captivated-an incredible display-and what a costume. Zoran not only acted his socks off all the time whilst on stage but also showed us what a good dancer he is, despite the restrictions placed upon him by having to dance in a costume that had tentacles attached. The songs “Why Can’t I Be You”, and “Bad Romance” were a highlight, with his sidekicks Davy and Jones, plus other cast members in sync with the moves.

Persil, the Dame, played by George Cooke, from his opening entrance through the audience singing “Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels”, to the conclusion, was simply sublime. He had the audience eating out of his hands, and, as already mentioned, his on-stage chemistry with Ray Kurn was a huge highlight. From their first meeting, a clip of “Careless Whisper” struck up and was used a few times to everyone’s amusement. But it was the scene on the beach with the Admiral, to be followed by taking the Admiral back to the underwater world, which had me in hysterics. The Admiral with snorkel and flippers but needing assistance to climb the stairs due to the flippers he was wearing was hilarious. The pairing literally gave me tears of laughter, and it was a joy to witness.

There was a large chorus to support the cast, including many young performers, and the sheer numbers of costumes must have been huge, but each and every member of the cast were having a fantastic time, and that completely came across to the audience.

My congratulations to the Directorial Team and everyone else involved.

 

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