The Wind in the Willows

This was an enjoyable Christmas treat of a show.

John Morley is a writer of pantomimes and this was evident from the script which included knockabout comedy, clever wordplay, strong characters and opportunities for audience participation.

At the heart of the show are Toad and his friends, Ratty, Mole and Badger who made a fine quartet. Nice characterisations from Brian Brooks as the friendly old boating buffer Ratty, newcomer Andy Chapman as Mole, convincing us that he was blinking into the daylight for the first time and Glenn Bamford as the venerable and self-important – but ultimately likeable – Badger.

Females tend to play supporting roles in the story but I enjoyed the cameos by Rebecca Walters, Juliet Thompson, Alex Tsang, Ange Davies and Pauline Glover.

Nat Gibbard was suitably dastardly as Chief Weasel who clearly enjoyed his role – ad libbing amusingly when things didn’t quite go as expected in his interactions with the audience.

Posh, extremely self-important, criminal and unfaithful to his kind friends, Toad is a very unlikely hero – and yet it is clear that the audience loved him, thanks to Chris Watkins, a relative newcomer whose total commitment to the role was a pleasure to watch. The voice, movement and mannerisms were just right and, I am sure, the result of a great deal of thought and work on Chris’s behalf. Well done!

Toad and his pals were helped by totally appropriate costumes – striped blazer for Ratty, plain dark colours for Mole, black and white check for Badger and, of course, tweeds for Toad. I liked the sharp-suited Chief Weasel too. I also thought that the make-up designed by the cast themselves was spot-on.

Apparently the piece has a large number of musical numbers in the script but the group decided to edit these down to five or six, which seems like a wise move for a group which plays to its acting rather than its musical strengths. I especially enjoyed Toad’s song and the Magistrate’s version of ‘I’ve got a little list’. That said the musical sections did look a bit like a ‘bolt on’ and, although I liked the fact that there was a house song (‘Row, row, row the boat’) I think more could have been made of it if enough encouragement had been given to the audience.

The set was simple – with a lovely backdrop of a woodland scene as the basic with the house curtains and plain backdrops used for the other scenes. This was an intelligent use of available resources on quite a large stage.

Ensemble work was good enough but I sometimes thought that a bigger chorus might have added to the fun – many Christmas shows make use of local children.

Diction was good and there were very few fluffed or forgotten lines – not at all bad for a first night.

I felt that the whole show lacked a bit of pace – especially notable in the second half when things are really coming to a head.

That said there were a lot of children in the audience and this show has a lot of talk, but there was very little fidgeting and talking which is a tribute to the way the performers kept things rolling along in an entertaining way.

Alex Wood

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