The Pied Piper

As this was a Pantomime I did not expect a straight forward telling of the Pied Piper story and this was indeed the case. Author Gary Kennedy had created the character of Prince Peter who was a stranger to the Town of Hamelin, and it was he who charmed away the Rats. Then evil Pong, who wanted to dominate the world, disguised himself as the Pied Piper and abducted the children.  There was a wide variety of characters with the Mayor of Hamelin, ‘good cleaning fairies’, evil Pong and his ‘henchrat’ Snot, the Dame, the Prince and valet who swop identities, the lovely girls who are swept off their feet by them and the inevitable ‘village idiots’. It was a well-written script with many jokes and plenty of opportunities for audience participation.

The set was well designed, which used mostly backcloths, tabs and well-lit gauzes, with small pieces of set to give maximum space and speedy scene changes. There were fixed ‘legs’ permanently at the sides of the stage, with a small Pied Piper playing his pipe and the notes going all the way to the top. The backcloths for Hamelin and the Manor were well painted, and the sewers were revolting.

There were well-cued sound effects and the children in the audience had many giggles each time Pong appeared. The lighting designer had created interesting effects giving a good contrast between outdoors and indoors, particularly the bright Town Square and the dim and gloomy sewers; you could almost smell them. The field outside Hamelin was simple lit but effective. The use of the gauze when Prince Peter, Simon the Valet and the girls were singing their quartet gave the feeling of separation. I liked the use of the static spotlights for songs, the cast used them to full advantage.

The costumes were very colourful and the quick changes on stage were all skilfully done. The rat’s costumes were excellent allowing the rats to move well and see properly, and the finale costumes were spectacular. Credit must go to the make-up team for their efforts particularly with Dame Diana and Pong with his ‘warts and all’.

The choreography was suitable to the show and suited the talents of the cast. There were moments of uncertainty but with good recovery. The children were a delight in their Rat Dance. The opening to Act 2 had very energetic jiving with everyone enjoying themselves with lots of smiles.

The cast worked well together and there were some good performances. The cleaning fairies were lovely and contrasted well with the disgusting Pong superbly played by David Walker.  He was ably assisted by a strong performance from Joanna Hachani, as his ‘henchrat’ Snot. The pairs of lovers were well matched and brought the right level of romance to the story. Dame Diana, Washy, Hans and Sneeze brought the comic element to the show. I was not sure that the Mayor of Hamelin was confident in his role, or whether it was a deliberate decision to have him as a gentle character without authority. The chorus as always had the very important responsibility of supporting and responding to the action. The youngsters playing the rats and children of Hamelin performed well, they were well disciplined and focussed, so much so that some of the very little ones were concentrating so hard they forgot to smile.

Musical Director Roger Winter had worked hard with the cast and the singing was of a high standard, with some lovely harmonies, good diction and an interesting choice of music; although there were a few too many songs. The band was well balanced and controlled and complimented the singing throughout.

Gary Kennedy had created a well-written script with some lovely ideas. There were times particularly in the first Act when the pace was slow, there were no problems with forgotten words, it was the pick up of cues that was slow. Having said that the slapstick scene was really well timed and the audience loved it, a great end to the first half. The audience the evening I was there responded well and left at the end with big smiles on their faces, so you had blown away some of those February blues.

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