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Dick Whittington and His Cat by Stuart Ardern Panto February 2009 Directed by Sue Jackson
The
Somborne Players present Dick Whittington and his Cat, written by
Stuart Ardern and directed by Sue Jackson. Come
and see family and friends, new faces and old, young people and old(er)
people in our traditional village pantomime. Full of fun and
frolics, this panto will have the whole family laughing and eager to see
how things work out for young Dick. Performances
are on 20th February 7.30pm and 21st February 2pm
and 7.30pm in King's Somborne Village Hall. Tickets are now on sale in
Cross Stores and from members of the Players for £3-£5. Please support this
production by buying your tickets early and spreading the word around the
village. See
you there!
Dick Whittington and his Cat It’s February – so it must be time for the
Village Pantomime – in the dark days after Christmas the trusty band of the
Somborne Players get together to rehearse – what a fabulous way to drive away
the winter blues. By my count something like 35 families have been involved
in one way or another in putting on the show – that’s amazing. Using some
very, very rough mathematics and
wild guesswork that’s probably just short of 10% of the Somborne’s population
(working on the principal that the village website is up to date numbers
wise). Having never been to the Somborne Panto before I
had no real idea of what to expect – clearly everyone in the hall was full of
anticipation on the Friday night and there was a real sense of community as
people greeted each other and caught up on the gossip. Raffle tickets were
being sold and there was a good range of prizes to be won. All the elements of the traditional Panto were
present – a thigh slapping Principle Boy played by Kerry Natt, a bevy of
villagers, songs and a great selection of groan jokes – the audience joined
in with gusto when Cannon Shott (David Haydon) picked up an anachronism with
“It’s only the Fourteenth Century”. The presence of Bill the Bard (Nigel Coleman)
(surely not in Dick Whittington?) led effortlessly into a wonderfully
humorous riff that included more titles of Shakespeare’s plays than I could
count and his co-worker, Stackpole (Sue Holligan) will be remembered for her
distinctive Brummie accent. The Dame (Peter Duncan) was clearly a relative of
Dr Spooner and of course there was the traditional cat and mouse chase in the
Kitchen of Lord Howard (Jon Cotterell)’s cook. The desperate days of the
credit crunch and state of international banking were, topically, centre
stage in the antics of Abacus (Andrew Flanagan). And then I was in unfamiliar territory – I don’t
remember a marauding Viking in the traditional story – but there was Olaf the
Norse (Lesley Evans) swashing his buckle in menacing fashion in a huge helmet
with enormous horns with his Pirate gang and then, stranger still, suddenly
we were in the desert and Sheik Italabout (Kelda Lay) entered the picture –
cue for another stream of references built around the film Casablanca.
Daring-do and the necessary freeing of the kidnapped Alice Esmerelda (Laura
Walmsley) kept the story moving along. They say you should never perform with
children or animals. And, yes, both fulfilled their traditional role of
upstaging the grown ups. The star of the show was the Camel (hiding Melanie
Haydon and Pollyann Monk beneath its hump), which was by turns haughty,
flirtatious, daffy and curious. And, of course, we mustn’t forget Lauren
Cartwright as the essential feline sidekick. This was an evening of real enjoyment – I’m sure
that, as I’m new to the village, I missed loads of local references – but I
shall never meet my neighbours again without seeing them in a completely
different light! It was huge fun, everyone in the hall was having a great
time and that includes the cast. It is traditional on these occasions to make
a number of thank yous and of course these go to Sue Jackson for directing
the show, Sue Spurling for organising front of house – including the much
enjoyed choc ices - Vicky Burden, Chris Hall and Melanie Haydon for extensive
production work and all other cast and crew members who gave up so many
afternoons and evenings to make the show come together in such a slick,
professional way. There must also be a number of unsung and uncredited heroes
who provided endless lifts to and from rehearsals, listened to lines learned
again and again and provided moral support to nervous. To everyone a big
thank you and we all look forward to next February… But if you can’t wait that long, make sure you
get your tickets for the Murder Mystery evening, presented by the Players in
association with the Sombornes School Association. After the roaring success
of last year, this is bound to be another sell out fund raising event. If you would like to join the Players
or be added to our contacts list, please email us at somborneplayers@googlemail.com
or simply check out our website at www.giraffeandtiger.plus.com/players Review written for the Gauntlet by Janet Mein
Dick Whittington and
his Cat Written by Stuart
Ardern
A pantomime in two
acts During the interval, refreshments will
be available and the raffle will be drawn. Cast
Crew Directed by Sue Jackson Production Team Vicky Burden, Melanie
Haydon, Chris Hall, David
Haydon, Linda Aucock, Steve
Denford, Andrew Flanagan, Kelda Lay, Pollyann
Monk, Vanessa Sharpe, Front of House Sue Spurling, Cynthia Bloom,
Catherine Cartwright, Val Chapman, Bridget Coleman, Jo Field, Jo Finch,
Audrey and Roy Gannaway, Vanessa McClenaghan, Carolyn Ryan, Audrey
Thomas, Lynda Waggott Special Thanks to… Ray Belazdell on piano John Arnold on sound Everyone who helped
with makeup Cross Stores for
tickets sales
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