The Pied Piper

Traditionally, British pantomimes have happy endings - oh, yes they do!  So it was imperative that the Centre Stagers (the performing arm of Haverhill & District Operatic Society) created their own, up-lifting version of this rather sad German legend of the Pied Piper.  In the original tale, he uses the magical power of his flute to lure the town's children away, never to be seen again, in revenge for the non-payment of his services to rid the town of its plague of rats.

In this pantomime, co-written by Denise Harriss as producer/director, Becca Neal and other Centre Stagers, the Pied Piper is a much more likeable character, who falls in love with the Town Mayor's daughter Eleanor, who is then captured by King Rat's inept villains, Didi and Gogo.  The Pied Pier, who, himself, is under the evil influence of King Rat Roland, resolves to rescue Eleanor, with the help of the good fairy Mary and all ends happily.

With such a thin story-line, there's a danger of "padding out" with chatter and banter.  Much of the dialogue, though well-written and appreciated by the adult members of the audience, I felt, at times, "went over the heads" of the younger children and possibly made it difficult for them to follow the plot.  In her introduction to the pantomime, the good fairy Mary, confidently played by Abbie Jarvis, encouraged the audience to cheer or boo the various characters, but the audience seemed unresponsive at times.  George Allin, as Roland Rat, wasn't scary enough, although his laugh was quite maniacal and he deservedly received a few hearty boos from the audience.  Jacob Simmons as Didi and Steve Powter as larger-than-life Gogo worked extremely hard to win over the audience with their slapstick and nonsense which, just occasionally, was irritatingly silly and their "backing" of Eleanor's soulful solo Want You Back was distracting and spoilt a lovely musical number, well sung by Billie Allen, who kept her composure, despite their antics.

For me, the star of the show was Steven Roach as Tina, the Mayor's cleaning lady, who wonderfully portrayed the pantomime dame, complete with 4" red stiletto heels!  The scenes with Becca Neal as son Jack and Steve Ridpath as Horace, the Mayor, were hilarious and certainly captivated the audience.  Nick Selin as the Pied Piper, was resplendent in his green and red jester suit and played his role confidently, his solo Yesterday sung expressively.  Lastly, as the Messenger who appeared from time to time to up-date the plot, John Snell dealt confidently with the many interruptions to his speech by the errant trumpeter in the band!

The principals were well supported by the small chorus of Villagers, who obviously enjoyed singing the various rock and pop musical numbers that interspersed the action.  Dr. Ian Davison, as Musical Director, provided the accompaniment on keyboard, with Adam Chinery on guitar, Roger Chinery on bass and trumpet and Ray Pawley on percussion.  The very basic set, with minimal props, ensured a good pace to the performance and with colourful costumes and suitable lighting, added to the overall visual appeal.  The choreography was, at times, a little unexciting and there were lost opportunities for the appealing troupe of young rats to be more "ratty" during their brief appearances.  That said, the Centre Stagers had obviously put a lot of effort into their production and were rewarded with appreciative applause from the capacity matinee audience.

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