Sleeping Beauty and The Time Machine

NODA Adjudication

Once again this enterprising society astounds with a show directed (and musically) by one of its three scriptwriters, who also wrote all the very pleasant music. This is certainly pantomime, with many of its well drawn characters named after sweets and others after plants, but with an unusual degree of sophistication in the writing.

The story is as you would expect, but with the addition of a Time Machine, a very useful tool for illustrating the rapid growth, in vision, of the Princess from birth to 18 years and to span her 100 years of sleep. Costume, make up, scenery and lighting were all to a high standard with some really effective special effects. This was a great team effort, with a cast of 26 named characters having a good mix of children and adults, and all did extremely well. I must mention especially the pleasantly non-raucous, but witty, Dame who did a splendid “Mary Poppins” emptying of a very small bag; a superb Bluebelle, the good fairy with a rare appetite for alcohol, who carried her spell book with her at all times, as a reminder; Chum, the dog, and Humbug, the horse, were delightful; Deadly Nightshade the wicked fairy, was powerful despite a few dialogue slips.

The Village Hall at Brantham is small, and its seating tends to make one focus on the advantages of limiting the need for audience concentration to no more than an hour. The final curtain came down at 10.30pm and there is no doubt that the first act is far too long in the context of the venue. However, it says much for the production that I was still interested and concentrating at the end of a first Act lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes!

Many congratulations to all concerned.