joined in the adventures as Grime, his underling. This was great experience for her to watch and sample the delight of playing a nasty and disliked character and, more importantly, keeping up with the energetic Adam. Most pantomime stories are driven by the Dame character but this one was very much focused around the interactions of Rumpelstiltskin and yet Ste OliverGrant made his mark as Gina the Cleaner – GC to her friends, who works at the castle. There was the delivery of tongue-in-cheek innuendo to characters and audience alike. An array of outlandish costumes is expected of the dame and the audience was not disappointed, the more garish and flamboyant the better. Kimberley Ross worked the audience well as Badges, the silly character that every pantomime has. She engaged in the silliness and ad-libbed when needed. She established from the outset that we, the audience, were all part of her gang, and even did a shameless plug to go and get a team badge with her face on it at the interval. There was energy to the character and great expressions throughout. An audience cheer rang out across the auditorium as Amber Kennerley landed her first thigh slap indicating that the Principal Boy, Prince Darren, had arrived on stage. This, in my book, is an essential ingredient and can be done multiple times. Amber showed great confidence in her portrayal of the Prince, the stance, deportment and posture were exactly right. One of the benefits of reviewing a group’s production over a number of years is to see individual performers grow, in confidence and theatre craft as they watch, learn and gain experience. I have seen Issy King in the last couple of pantomimes as Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother and Fairy Flora in Beauty and the Beast and this week she stepped it up to play Princess Harriet. There was good interaction with Amber and Adam in particular. She conveyed a range of emotions
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