Author: Ann Platten

This unique panto-rhyme written and directed by David Lye was charming and a one off in that all the dialogue was in rhyme.

The traditional story of the beautiful Princess Aurora put to sleep until the Prince releases her from the spell which the “baddie” of the panto Malificent had put on her was excellent.

Malificent  played by Kathy Ellis was a rather up market modern witch, beautifully dressed and with great rapport with the audience and children especially and was a great success.

The characters included King Stephan and Queen Aveline played by Graham Tippett and Karen Davies.Flotilla a rather quirky Fairy Godmother played by Ann Mortimer were all  really well cast and gave us some great panto-rhyme lines.

Princess Aurora was sweetly played by Megan Vickers looking just perfect as the beautiful girl discovered by Prince Phillip played by a very dashing hero Jade Edon who delivered her dialogue very well and looked every inch the hero of the story.

The songs which were dotted through the acts fitted well and added to the gentle and very pleasing feel to the show.

Queen Aveline had a lovely singing voice and together with Graham as King Stephan, both looked very regal.

The scenes flowed well one into another and although a lot of scenes appeared in the programme it worked seamlessly and well.

Other characters also contributing a great deal to the production were Cliff Edwards as Francis (a sort of Buttons character) a maid played by Patricia Hunter, King Hubert by Barry Sargeant , Victor played by Tim Burrett and Hercules the Horse played by Penny Sears and Zoe.

Overall this was just a gentle well written panto and directed so well by David Lye. The humour was fun and the audience had a great time and really enjoyed the show. It was different,old style and gave us all a fun afternoon.

Well done to you all and especially David for thinking out this clever idea and spending no doubt many hours on the script.

Your warm welcome was very much appreciated, and meeting up with the group again after a while I was so impressed with the lovely costumes and the natural ease which came over from all the cast.

I look forward to your 2016 productions.