SHOWCASE FESTIVAL 2004-2005

ADJUDICATION

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INTRODUCTION
FRONT OF HOUSE
LIGHTING AND SOUND
SET DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
COSTUMES
MUSIC
CHOREOGRAPHY
PERFORMANCES
SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

I have now come to the end of the pantomime season, which is a great pity because I really love watching and joining in with them, obviously part of me has never grown up.
This being one of the reasons why they are still popular to watch, either as part of the audience or to be involved on stage. I love the over-the-top characters, the outlandish lands where they live, the bright colours of their costumes, the men dressed as women and the girls dressed as boys, I love it all. Having glanced at the script, thank you for sending it to me, I was intrigued by the title and fascinated by the characters and their story. The introduction of a time machine into a traditional fairy story is quite a flight of ideas and could put an audience on the defensive, but this script was so imaginative and so well written that the modem additions blended in beautifully with our best loved characters. So it was with interest and anticipation that I waited for the story to unfold.

FRONT OF HOUSE

We received a very warm welcome from this efficient team of keen helpers, I was handed a complimentary programme and shown to a very good seat. The bar was open selling alcoholic and soft drinks and snacks pre-curtain as well as during the interval. Music was playing creating the right mood for an expectant audience. There were raffle tickets on sale and an extremely friendly atmosphere; this is obviously a very supportive village, as everyone seemed to know one another. The programme itself was full of information, photographs of the cast and support team nicely printed with an attractive front cover and an ingenious letter from the Director.

LIGHTING AND SOUND

This will be a rather brief section as my knowledge of technology is practically zero and your obvious grasp of its mysteries in plain to see. The lighting plot appeared to be varied and complicated, using colours to enhance the on stage action, green for Nightshade, red for her spells and blue for Bluebelle. Lights flashed on and off when needed and spotlights were used for songs. The lights were dimmed for the Marsh of Mallow with a smoke machine for added atmosphere. The thunder and lightning effect for the spells were right on cue combining lights and sound effects. The Tower Room effect with the gauze walls that became transparent when lit behind, this worked very well except for a short time the light was off whilst Deadly Nightshade ploughed on with her dialogue in the dark. I must not miss out the Passage of time scene; the screen displaying the passing of time was a brilliant idea and worked extremely well. The flashing tiny lights on I.C.'s
belt looked good and of course the lights on the time machine's console. The sound effects were weird and wonderful from the eerie sounds of the marsh to computer boings, all appeared on cue and correct for the on-stage action. This production was full of lighting and sound effects, many were very technical and I am sure the production teams were pulling their hair out during the technical rehearsal, but to me in the audience it all ran smoothly (just that one blip with the Tower Room light) and on cue. So well done all, your hard work and imaginative ideas were worth the effort.

SET DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

With such a small area to work in, granted you built an extension to the stage with steps down to the hall, this must be a nightmare for your designers. The Town Square with its lollipop style houses was pretty and imaginative, with a sweet making machine front stage left, it had a revolving barrel at the front with finished sweets on it. The Marsh of Mallow consisted of two large bushes and lots of smoke for atmosphere, giving the team time to change the main scene to the Throne Room, this was a lovely mix of grey, pink and maroon with two cartoon style thrones mid stage in maroon and gold. I have already mentioned the very effective interlude for the Passage of Time, very imaginative, the console was also used on the bridge of the Time Machine, this looked very modern in cream, with lots of buttons, etc. The lowering of the Time Machine in the first scene was a good idea and novel in design as it opened up when in place, its journey was a little rocky but it eventually settled itself. The use of the Tower Room on stage left was a good idea although proved difficult to use, due I think to lack of space, a perennial problem for you I expect. This room held the spinning wheel and at times both Candyfloss and Deadly Nightshade, rather a squash. The Tree in the Enchanted Forest was ingeniously designed, the branches held the arms of whoever was stuck inside and he or she moved with such speed across the stage I am amazed they did not fall over! The trapdoor in the stage was well used when Nightshade was squirted with the Zap weed killer; she disappeared quite quickly, rather her than me This was a good selection of scenery, well designed and cleverly constructed, quietly and quickly changed. The props are worth a mention also, especially the large Quality Street style sweets that were given to the baby Princess as her christening, the glowing crystal ball and the food for the feast, well done to whoever made these items.

COSTUMES

The scenery was of a fairy tale style and the costumes followed the same theme. Lord Gobstopper was dressed in bright green breeches, yellow shirt and red waistcoat with a feathered tricorn hat and lots of padding, his sidekick Chewing Gum was plainly dressed in grey. The Dame was traditionally dressed in bright clashing colours topped with white wig with ringlets, very sweet, ''her'' make-up was not very distinctive, the clock style outfit was outstanding with a cuckoo clock for a hat (I hope you found the cuckoo, it disappeared). Humbug the Horse looked very sweet in brown velvet with a solid head and Herbert looked quite relaxed in his jeans, T-shirt and sports jacket, he did not look at ease in his wedding outfit of pink and silver, whoever picked that pink cape? In black with flashing belt and shades I.C. looked very modem, contrasting well to the others, one of which was the fairy Bluebelle. Looking a little frayed round the edges, Bluebelle was dressed in blue with a cute straw hat and large straw basket. The King and Queen were dressed in sweets and lollipop-decorated costumes in blue and golds with large crowns, the King looked very amusing in his nightshirt. In a beautiful maroon and purpled layered costume Deadly Nightshade looked lovely, her black and silver wig was very dramatic, as was her make-up. The Princess looked very attractive in pink and cream and even more so in her finale pink and silver. Her small friend Chum looked extremely cute in ''his'' black and white dog outfit, the make-up was very good. The Chorus looked great in their brightly coloured skirts and black boleros, the dancers looked elegant in their net ballet dresses and very smart in their Guards outfits. As Marsh Monsters they were dressed as ugly sweets with great expressions and later as the forest creatures in green and brown strips with wonderful masks with ''buggy'' eyes. What imagination the wardrobe team must have and how satisfying to produce such amazing creations, well done to you all.

MUSIC

Enhancing the home written script is the home written musical score. I am in awe of someone able to write and produce 21 pieces of music and original songs and I have to add, lovely to listen to and even to join in with. The music was beautiful, the singing from the cast was of a high standard, although at times the music drowned the singers, and so some of the words were lost. The trios from Herbert, I.C. and Aniseed were great; all three had strong voices and blended well. Candy Floss has a great voice, her solo ''My Someone'' was lovely, and her duet with Herbert was a joy. The dance music was so well matched with the characters that Andy Kimber must have had nightmares containing buggy-eyes monsters and huge ugly sweets, in contrast the ballet dances were more like a dream. The varied styles of songs and music would have appealed to most peoples' tastes and added much to the finished production. Having live musicians is such a plus in these days of pre-recorded music, having four musicians was really great and gave the production the facility of so many different sounds and instruments.

CHOREOGRAPHY

What a well disciplined, happy group of young dancers this group has, singing and dancing from the opening chorus onwards, they gave every appearance of pleasure. The dance of the Marsh Monsters was imaginative and well executed, the young people moved on stage and climbed the steps inside huge shapes; this must have been difficult for them As the Forest Creatures with huge ''buggy'' eyes, the gauze over their faces looked great, but must have caused them problems with sight, they managed so well, it must have been a joy for the choreographer to see her ideas translated into the dances on the stage. So my congratulations go to both choreographer Sian Naylor and her team of young dancers, not forgetting the two young fairies that danced beautifully and so elegantly in the ballet sequences.

PERFORMANCES

CHEWING GUM/TARZAN - Jason Pembroke
Jason has a bright future in front of him and as the downtrodden acolyte of Lord Gobstopper his downcast expression and quiet manner made a good contrast to his master, given a little more experience and confidence Jason could be unstoppable as a young thespian. His attempt at the lisping camp Tarzan was very amusing, but needed more oomph, so well done Jason and carry on.

LORD GOBSTOPPER /CAPTAIN BULLSEYE - Steve Hutley
Described in the programme as a pompous toff, Steve certainly was, he drew out his words emphasising every syllable making himself so boring, even so he remained somewhat lovable. I do not know if this is what he planned, but this is what he became, a lovable buffoon. Steve was confident, with a good booming voice and amusing body language, his pirate was also full bodied and extremely over-the-top.

DAME ANISEED TWIST - Keith Raby
With dialogue stuffed full of the most awful jokes, Keith's dame was very amusing. Keith worked hard in this role, he was friendly, but somehow did not seem to connect with the audience. Possibly it was because his dialogue sounded a little garbled and we missed many of the words, therefore the jokes. A good singing voice when teamed with I.C. and Herbert was a joy to hear.

HUMBUG - Philippa Raby and Sean Walsh
This was a very active steed, moving about the stage with speed and confidence; they even managed the steps! Their movements appeared in unison and were obviously well rehearsed; this is very difficult role, one that has my congratulations.

CANDY KANE - Holly Smith
Holly had a cheeky expression and good volume with her dialogue.

HERBERT PRINCE - James Clark
As the reluctant hero James made a very believable boffin who time travels. Looking extremely studious and slightly bewildered, he immediately became a favourite with the audience. We were all sure he would fall for the beautiful Princess and of course he did, although James did not look quite as comfortable with the love scenes as he did with the science stuff. I enjoyed his interpretation of a modem style, old-fashioned hero with a great singing voice.

I.C. - Grant Borroff
With his dialogue and movement slightly restricted by his robot style role, Grant still managed to infuse I.C. with his own personality. This was a well-studied, confident portrayal, Grant's robotic movements were amusing and his clipped dialogue was very realistic. He had a strong, good singing voice that blended well with Herbert's and Aniseed's. A great, modern character that blended in with the traditional story extremely well.

BLUEBELLE - Lesley Mercer
I really loved Lesley's interpretation of a fairy, with a slight problem with alcohol Bluebelle weaved about the stage, slightly tipsy and very funny. Her somewhat truculent attitude when dealing with the others gave Lesley the edge with the humour, add to this a very animated expressive face and pleasant singing voice, this made it one of my favourite characters.

KING COUGHDROP - Richard Heath
Richard appears to have honed the doddery, confused royal to a fine art, deaf as a post this led to many a misunderstanding, he made this role very amusing. His solo was well executed and he never for one moment lost his lovable character.

QUEEN LOLLIPOP - Angie Heath
Not as lovable was this royal wife, Angie's Queen was snobbish, irritable and never stopped complaining. Nothing was good enough and we were never in doubt who wore the trousers in this household. Angie's touchy royal lady made a nice contrast to her husband's bumbling King.

AGRIMONY - Lucy Pembroke
BETONY - Poppy Cunnell
These two young ladies made lovely fairies, their elegant dancing and lovely expressive faces made them perfect for the roles of the ballet-dancing sylphs.

DEADLY NIGHTSHADE - Debi Potten
Relishing her nasty character, Debi had the loudest cackle I have heard this season.
With dramatic gestures and great body language Debi made a huge impact on this production. Her dialogue seemed to be spoken at such a speed I could not always understand what she was saying, maybe Debi lost her rhythm. Apart from that I found this a really great performance; that I enjoyed as much as Debi appeared to.

CANDY FLOSS - Annabel Kimber
CANDY FLOSS - Lauren Mercer
These two young ladies played their parts well appearing in the Passage of Time as the growing Princess.

CANDY FLOSS - Sian Naylor
Looking absolutely lovely as the all growed up Princess, Sian is everyone's ideal heroine.
With a good animated expression and graceful movements she was perfect for the role, add to this a great singing voice and what more can I say, well done Sian.

CHUM - Maisie Macdonald
What a cute dog Maisie made, Chum capered about with enthusiasm and studied ''Doggy'' movements. As the pet of the Princess Chum was very protective towards her, this endeared her to the audience.

PRIVATE FUNG CHEN - Adam Wombwell
PRIVATE PROPPITY (Casey Francis) - PRIVATE GIOAK (Jake Hutley)
These three young people worked well together as a team, they were enthusiastic, moved in unison and appeared to enjoy themselves.

ALDER BUCKTHORN - Paul Nixon
It took me awhile to work out whom you were, the man in the tree that moved so well and so quickly, well you have my sympathy and congratulations.

PHIL SPECTRE/KENNY SHIFTITT - Ian Southgate
Wafting about as a ghost Ian waved his arms about in true Pantomime style and as the salesman of Zap weed killer he arrived just in time with just the right amount of salesman savoir faire.

CITIZENS AND MONSTERS
This group of young people showed great teamwork and enthusiasm for their allotted roles. As Citizens they were bright and animated, giving the opening chorus real impact.
When dressed as Monsters they executed their dances with skill, especially considering the lack of space and their restricted sight. So congratulations for your impressive hard work and commitment.

SUMMARY

As you may have guessed from the above praise I enjoyed this production. It had bright, colourful, imaginative sets and costumes and technology that added the modern touch to the traditional story. The script and musical score were well written with lots of action.
The direction was tight and all the production elements seemed to come together and created a most enjoyable entertainment. One small grumble was that at times the music was louder than the singers, even though they all wore microphones. My other small grumble was that it was rather too long, fortunately the production was very good but three hours sitting on those chairs gives the numb-bum factor a new meaning. So congratulations all round for a most enjoyable evening's entertainment.
Best wishes to you all and thank you for inviting me.

Anne Sexton
Adjudicator N.E.E.T.G.