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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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He's behind you! Thomas John as The Imp with Courtney Smith-Reid as Milly Miller Rumpelstiltskin Hall Green Little Theatre **** As pantos go this one was Grimm, oh, yes was, that’s Jacob and Wilhelm, the famed Brothers Grimm we’re talking about here, and their dark Teutonic tale of the miller’s daughter and a mysterious little man who can spin straw into gold – exacting a terrible price for his services! A terrifying tale, but not as terrifying as a theatre full of children, mainly Brownies, whose screams and shouts could probably drown out a jumbo jet on full throttle in the car park outside, but, to their credit they behaved impeccably and lived and enjoyed every minute. This was a performance relying heavily on the youth theatre with Thomas John excelling as the Imp, a character whose name we, or at least our lovebirds, have to guess to break the terrible . . . well that would be telling. The lovebirds being Courntney Smith-Reid who makes a lovely, poor, commoner of a miller’s daughter, Milly Miller and her high ranking suitor and Act II husband, Prince Domnhall, played in true principal boy style by Phoebe O’Reilly, all it needed was a thigh slap or two to maintain the tradition, oh yes it did! And panto needs its Buttons, its Wishy Washy, its Idle Jack character to be the best mate of the audience, so enter Harris Khan as Wheatley Chaff, the name being a play on the milling process as . . . oh just ask ChatGPT. He connected well with the audience along with his sidekick Billy the Kid, who was a goat. In fact there were three Billy’s, Three Billy Goats, which as all a bit gruff, or was that another fairy tale . . . Ah well, not to worry - we had Olivia Cocks as Billy, Bella Haycock as the understudy Billy and Ellie Vaughan as the stunt Billy and the trio did a wonderful job of keeping in perfect unison. There was also a fine performance from Mea Caga as the minstrel who has a lovely, clear singing voice which deserved its solos. Panto also needs a dame, or to use the technical term, a bloke in a frock, in this case Oli Scott throwing his/her/whatever handbag into the ring as Mrs Bobbin Miller, the miller’s poor widow. Panto Dames are always widows, no doubt husbands clutching at any option they can to escape, And we also need a baddy to boo, well three of them in fact with Imp being more of a look out behind you sort of horror. There is Shaun Dodd as The Dark Lord, a sort of Dracula in a cape old school baddy whose been at the boos (Oh, come on - that was worth a titter) and his acolytes sporting the requisite sub-optimal intellectual capacity of baddy underlings, Emily Beaton and Beth Flint as Compos and Mentis.
Shaun Dodd as The Dark Lord, with Emily Beaton and Beth Flint as Compos and Mentis. In charge of the whole shooting match we have Katherine Williams as King Brendan ruling the roost with a rather up market air and sweeping around in a gold outfit aided by the palace guards, lookin’ hafter ‘er majesty, John Whittell and George Tipton. Then just in case you needed to know what was going on we had Jon Peach and his vellum scrolls letting us know as the heraldic messenger, or if we really didn’t really want to know, we had the soothsayer full of woe and sharing it with anyone nearby, given a miserable, hooded, woe is her outing by Joanne Newton. Then there were those who had no idea what was going on . . . ever, the village idiots, Charlotte Andrews-Miller (who is a real Miller and not a miller Miller if you see what I mean . . . just saying) and Will Cleaver, while cleaning up we had the washer women Roisin Begley and Isla McGillion-Fee, with Town Crier Samantha Cunningham-Elby shouting the odds. Less shouty was Aine Crehan as the . . . sheep whisperer. Don’t ask, and standing out like a sore thumb among this lot, a wise man, with Oisin Fitzpatrick providing the wisdom and Renee Davis throwing in a little interrogation. Richard Scott’s script has kept roughly to the bones of the far darker Grimm tale with jokes and humour and panto favourites thrown in - Jacob and Wilhelm were not renowned for their comedies - while director Richard Woodward has got his largely young cast working as a team and telling their tale of magic well. The production has had more than its fair share of problems including one involving a sound system, an essential in any theatre, but has overcome them with that show must go on attitude and the young cast did well battling to make the story heard as thy were swept along on a tsunami of audience enthusiasm – and that really is the point and the real success of this fun panto. As a nation among our contributions to the world of the arts were Shakespeare, Restoration Comedy . . . and panto and perhaps the humble panto is the greatest of them all. It is not high drama, thought provoking or very sophisticated, it won’t pull at the heartstrings, generate deep emotions or change the world, but for many children it is the first time they will experience the magic of theatre, something to watch that is not on a screen, and for some it could be the only time . . . for now. Give them something to enjoy, and enjoy this one they certainly did, there is a chance it might sow the seeds for a lifelong love of theatre and the arts, then there will be time to enjoy and appreciate Shakespeare, Restoration Comedy, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, Rattigan and a thousand others – the shouting, cheering, laughing youngsters could be the next generation of theatregoers, and without them theatre will die – oh yes it will! Rumpelstiltskin will be spinning straw to 14 December and will have another spin 3-5 January, 2025. Roger Clarke 06-12-24 |
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