What a cracking pantomine, from start to finish!
It opened with the traditional village scene.
Enter Cinderella (Keeley Oakley) and Buttons (Tom Mitchell), grabbing the audience's attention. We then meet Baron Hardup (Chaz Davenport) who thinks his troubles are over. (Oh, no they're not!) His new wife (very rich) Medusa the scheming Baroness (Peggy Miller) and her two daughters, Euthanasia (Dave Oakley) and Asphyxia (Chris Green) are there to plague him.
Are they man hungry?
Oh, yes they are!
Down in the forest something was stirring, as Prince Charming (Dawn Hollington) and Dandini (Kathy Williamson), plan the hunt and are joined by the Ugly Sisters in riotous hunting dress. (A comedy version of Hunt Saboteurs?). Cinders helps the VOL (very old lady) in other words her fairy godmother, before the broker's men, Ammer and Tongs (Richard Harker and Paul Marcus), arrive to create mayhem.
Needless to say the hunt was successful, although all the rabbit and pheasants bore labels with bar codes on them.

Now we are inevitably back downstairs at Stoneybroke Mansions with Cinderella and Buttons, while the folk upstairs have left for the Ball, and on trips (did I say trips?), I meant on floats the fairy godmother and Cinders dutifully collects white mice, lizards and a pumpkin (this pumpkin was Richard Green) and somehow through magic or trickery these are changed into a wonderful pumpkin coach, drawn by two magnificent white horses (Enid Rothwell and Katie Wickenden), controlled by two equally splendid coachmen (Beck-Beth Cox and Matt Close).
And so to the Ball, where the guests were being announced by an impressive Major Domo (Simon Baird).
The Princess Crystal (none other than Cinders in her best bib and tucker) and Prince Charming start to waltz, but are stopped by Ammer who wanted "None of that old malarky, we want something modern." It must have been something of a first for a pantomine - line dancing in box formation. The dancing was outstanding, except for Tongs who seemed to be attached to three left feet. Speaking of feet the exuberant guests were controlled by two footmen (Mike Fey and Peter Brown), who succeeded in not putting a foot wrong.

A pantomine depends to a large extent on a hardworking chorus and this one was full of pep and polish and filled the stage with colourful movement and merriment. When I tell you that this chorus consisted of Gill Greaves, Hollie Dryden, Katie Wickenden, Enid Rothwell, Celia Blaber, Mary Tee, Jackie May, Sue Brown, Jenny Sibley, Emma Hepburn, Simon Baird, Matt Close and Becky-Beth Cox you will realise that some of them played more than one part with gusto. Gusto seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself too!
The dancers were Natasha Green, Jody Binding, Georgia Williamson, Sam Austin, Jessica Thomson, Stephanie Marcus and Adele Edmund who performed some well-choreographed dances and in particular were at their most spectacular in the Dance of the Mushrooms under ultra violet light.

Altogether a splendid pantomine with lots of laughs, such as
   Name a fish that begins and ends with a letter K.
   That's easy! KILMARNOCK.
   That's not a fish.
   Oh yes it is. It's a PLACE. Boom, Boom.

Special mention must be made to the splendiferously colourful costumes organised by Peggy Miller (so the Baroness was not all bad!) and she was ably assisted by Sandra Mann.

Every pantomine depends for its smooth running and its slickness on the back stage crew and Cinderella was no exception. Those who worked hard before the show were Lawrie Fox who did the most effective scenic painting and Richard Close who hand built Cinder's coach. (So it wasn't magic after all!)
The sound effects were the work of Martin Cuff and the whole show was lit-up by Mike Talbot. All the scene shifting was performed by the following gang, Roy Cope, John Cope, Tony Hansford, Ian Hansford and Richard Close, who made light of some heavy work. Props were effectively marshalled by Christine Davies and Continuity was provided by Enid Rothwell, Jennie Sibley and Celia Barber. (Strange, I thought that continuity was only a product of film studios - you live and learn.) Both cast and crew were bossed around by Ken Greaves, (who says it was his swan song as Stage Manager).
The Orchestra was directed by David East with some panache and the whole shooting match was produced by Martin Bellchamber and was yet another example of his complete professionalism.

KEN GREAVES

(With some additional comments by Ray Smith.)

Ferndown Drama Group must be thriving in order to have such large numbers of members to call upon for cast and crew. Larger casts usually mean larger audiences and I hope that some local Charity benefitted from this successful production, as Drama Groups usually give generously to good causes.
If this really was Ken's last production as Stage Manager, I hope that Ferndown have somebody willing, able and professional enough to step into his shoes. Many groups have learnt to their cost, that a really competent Stage Manager is essential to the success of the group. RS