The Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty a pantomime performed by St Michael’s Amateur Dramatic Society on Friday, 12th January, 2024 at St Michael's Parish Hall, Shaw Street, Wigan.

The versatile and amazingly talented Ian Field had once again penned this very family orientated adaptation of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’.  Not only did Ian pen this pantomime, he also features in the cast as a very forthright and regal King Stephan VII… and, on top of all that, he’s been re-elected… for ‘ONE YEAR ONLY’ he says… (we’ll not take that as gospel until we see it actually happen) as Society Chairman… and that’s what everyone does, I think, here at St Michael’s, they ‘stand up and be counted’ … well done Ian great job with the panto and great job with St Michael’s!

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED…  I think that would be a ‘great mantra’ for all the committee and members here at St Michael’s… why, because that’s what happens continuously and it’s what happened the evening, I went to see this year’s panto!  There was an unusual ‘buzz’ around St Michael’s Parish Hall as I arrived…the place was ‘ram jam full’, but I was aware that something else was ‘on going’… and then, with about five minutes to ‘curtain up’ Ian Field appeared on stage to announce that “we have a problem”… Ian, explained that all the ‘stage lighting’, both on and off stage, had failed/attempts to fix brought no success!  Ian asked the audience for their blessing to do the production to just the ‘house lights’ … with thunderous approval…  that’s exactly what happened!  

The Production Team…  the multi-talented June Dowd (Director) was the person who’d been tasked to bring this panto to stage and what a great job she made of it!  June also had responsibility for musical numbers and the vocal arrangements.  Hollie Jones (granddaughter to June) did a great job with the choreography for ‘Dance of the Spirits’.  Caitriona Muir (Musical Director) was also the person in charge of Lighting and Sound (which, with tonight’s problems, would have tested any lighting engineer), but Caitriona took it all in her stride and by the time we came to the ‘finale’ … she found time, during Act 2,  to not only keep the production moving, but had also found time to re-patch the entire lighting board from her ‘nest’, which allowed the ‘finale’ to be staged with more or less ‘full stage lighting’ … be very proud Caitriona… be proud everyone!

The Cast… firstly, I really do feel the need to mention the diverse age groups represented within the cast, from primary school children through to some ever so slightly older shall we say!  We had thirty-six in the cast … twenty-seven of whom were under the age of twenty-one and a great number of those around the twelve to sixteen mark… eleven playing principal roles!  It really is so humbling when you see mixed age groups being fused together through the power of theatre.  The rapport, the energy, the obvious bond between every cast member was real and wonderful to see… be proud St Michael’s, there’s no doubt that your future is safe and assured!  So where to start… I do think this is another one of those productions where the ‘whole’ and ‘not an individual’ was responsible for its success!   So, to start saying that someone was better than someone else would without doubt do injustice to others… but after saying that, I also think it would be remiss of me not to give a few ‘shout outs’….  so, let’s start with a couple of oldies (they do say ‘age has its privilege’) … sorry you two… June Dowd not only directed this pantomime but played the role of Queen Margaretta working ever so well with our writer, Ian Field who took on the role of King Stephan VII. June and Ian are experienced performers, both created great characters whilst working ever so well with each other and the cast., well done you two!  Debbie Jones was playing our Villian this year… ‘The Dark Fairy Curmudgeon’ which she played with great aplomb, another who always creates great characters… well done Debbie!  Then we had our panto Dame… Matt Morrell, playing the role of Lady Neverstill (Queen’s lady in waiting).  Matt did a good job as Dame, worked the audience well and had a great chemistry with all the cast… be proud!  Our ‘stand out’ youngster had to be Harvey Westhead who took on the role of ‘Muddles (Court Jester) and did a real good job of it!  Only thirteen, Harvey took on this ‘principal comedy role’ and made it his own!  Great character created, he provided us with some good mannerisms and worked well with all the cast… be very proud young man… good job!   Staying with the youngsters… we had a trio of fairies... ‘Fairy Diamond’, ‘Fairy Emerald’ and ‘Fairy Ruby’ played really well by Katie Jones, Maisie Jones and Charlotte Gomersall (aged 15, 12
and 9 years respectively). All three worked really well together creating three good characters… be very proud!  We also had four 12 years olds playing ‘Princess Aurora’ and ‘Prince Rupert’. The ’Aurora’ roles were shared by Eva Baxter playing the younger and Freya Pennington the elder. Prince Rupert the younger was played by Mara Popa with Ruby Morrell playing the elder.  I really didn’t want to highlight individuals, but I really can’t not just add a little note about Eva Baxter … for someone so young, she made this part her own with clear diction and really good stage presence well done young lady!  David Smith played Lord Stanley Crumphorn (Lord Chamberlain), Karen Heyes played ‘The Golden Fairy’; Julie Bradshaw took on the role of Queen Constantina of Ruritania; Lewis Holding played Arthur (Squire/Mentor to Prince Rupert)
and Elle Hatton played ‘Wolfspit (A Dragon).  The Chorus … (Courtiers, Villagers and Dancers) included: Bella Bannister, Eva, Hayley and Joe Bentham, Lola Cross, Amelie Higham, Izzy Hornby, Jess Houghton, Milly Taylor, Alison Hansen.

Staging/Set … a simple, yet effective set was used throughout which was enhanced by the use of some lovely cloths (additional scenery/cloths hired from ‘Chriska Stage Supplies’ in Ellesmere Port). With limited space on stage, Julie Clarke (Stage Manager) and David Palin (Assistant SM) along with members of the cast who make up the ‘back stage team’ should be congratulated on their efforts... everything just flowed.  The Set and Stage painting had been carried out by Ian Field, John Gostelow, Hayley Bentham, Julie Bradshaw  and June Dowd great work folks… well done!

Sound and Lighting… you only need to look at paragraph three to understand what happened at St Michael’s that night… BUT with Caitriona Muir in charge of all things ‘sound and lights’ and who was also ‘titled’ this year as Musical Director… should we have been worried, I think not! ‘Perched’ as always on her ‘Crow’s Nest’ Tech Platform, the show went on and by the finale as stated above… things were back to normal… ‘The Lighting Wizard’ had worked her ‘magic’… congrats Cat, be very proud!  

Costumes… were fabulous and apt for this production… hired from Charades Costume Hire, St Helens, with additional costumes provided by Members of St Michael’s ADS all co-ordinated by June Dowd. 

Even with the trials and tribulations thrown at St Michael’s that night… this was once again another good traditional family pantomime enjoyed by everyone present… congrats to everyone involved!

Thank you, as always, for inviting Susan and I… it really is always a privilege and a pleasure to come to St Michael’s to watch you guys perform.  As stated above, it’s great to see so many youngsters on stage, gaining so much experience from playing alongside the older more experienced cast members…well done to one and all, hope to see you all again soon…

Stay Safe, Keep well
‘Stronger Together’

Jim Briscoe
District 6 Rep
NODA North West

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