home | accolade | articles | acting | festivals | guestbook | groups | greenroom | links | news | plays 1 productions | photos | quotes | reviews |
 |
 |
Broadstone Pantomine Players Memorial Hall Broadstone January 2005 So the promise of a revival of The Princess and the Witch offered bot a new story and characters and a challenge for the cast. The script had been reworked by James Cooke, with a few 'adult' jokes added. At Saturday's matinee they were lost on both children and their parents. Fortunately for director Mally she was able to rope in the Jan Mizen Dancers, six young girls who enlivened the proceedings with some skilful dances that enhanced the atmosphere of this sometimes chilly story. A King has three sons, but the eldest is not the brightest, and so the monarch decides to hand on his crown to the middle son. At the same time the Queen is so forgetful that she often cannot remember her own family. Into the palace comes a ragged girl, who claims to be a princess. No on other than the eldest son believes her, and he is immediately enamoured by the new arrival. She is sent off to work in the kitch, where Dame Delia and her two workshy daughters rule the roost. A visiting magician confirms that the girl, Zerlina, is in fact a princess, but before the king can put his mistake right, she is spirited away through a refrigerator by the witch, herself detemined to marry a prince and rule the kingdom. The oldest prince organises the rescue mission, and his 'mistake' in choosing a torch in the Generation Game show proves to be the saving grace. This year Broadstone Panto Players could not attract its traditional chorus, as so many of the company were involved in a major school production just before Christmas at the Lighthouse in Poole. Outstanding in the cast were Natasha Barry as the trainee witch, Miss Screams, Rachel Smith and Katie Bavington as Spic and Span the dame's daughters, and Caitlin Broad as Zerlina. Katie Newman had a fine time as Queen Forget-Me-Not, and Ron Kite enjoyed his Kitchen Goddess session. Coral Ingham's extraordinary delivery at time made the witch incomprehensively spooky. That remarkable octogenarian Sylvia Rogers-Fowle again created the sets, transporting the audience from castle to wood, and then to the icy north, and the freezing of the royals into icebergs was effectively done. The company always raises funds for a local charity or person and this year's recipient will be a little girl in the town who is severely disabled, and who wants a roundabout in her garden. Gay Pirrie-Weir, Courtesy of the Community Magazine. Courtesy of the Bournemouth Daily Echo 
|