Dick Whittington
Dick Whittington - A Family Pantomime
DATE 28th January 2024
SOCIETY Ingatestone Musical Operetta Group
VENUE Ingatestone & Fryerning Community Hall
TYPE OF PRODUCTION Pantomime
DIRECTOR Denyse Donnell
CHOREOGRAPHER Denyse DonnellReportAuthor: Tessa Davies (NODA East Regional Councillor)
IMOG’s annual pantomime is a well-loved and well attended event. With a packed audience for this, their last performance, the audience was in good spirits.
This was a traditional panto script and the show opened with King Rat and the Fairy. Mark Walker played King Rat, and this was an excellent performance, he got the audience involved, although they were a little tentative at first, he soon had them warmed up. He was joined by Fairy Bowbells, played by Alison Chilvers, a delightful performance, and a great verbal duel to open the show.
The principals were good, Ethan Gorsuch-Browne played Dick and his characterisation was excellent and exactly as we would like to see in a panto. He seemed to struggle a bit with a few of his songs and it was evident that they were not in a key that suited his voice. When he got a song in the right key, he was very good. It is so important, when using backing tracks, that the track is in the right key for the performer. It is relatively easy to change a key and I am sure he would have been more comfortable had that been done.
Kirsty Trapp played Alice Fitzwarren beautifully, just the right characterisation, not quite over the top and exactly as we would want to see. She has a lovely voice, and she kept the songs on track.
Steve Critchell played Sarah the Cook; he was a very good Dame. He picked up managing the audience participation from King Rat and, between them, they got the audience joining in more. Sue Elliott played Tiddles the Cat, a crucial character in this story and her performance was extremely enjoyable. Lizzie Clark played Idle Jack, she delivered a great fun character and her energy from the start was infectious. She has extremely expressive facial expressions and it was thoroughly enjoyable to see these through the show. Carly Ersser doubled up as Fitzwarren and Horatio, supposedly twin brothers but, of course, you never saw them on stage together, a nice device in the script and well handled. She gave two very different characters, something that is always tricky to do, but she pulled it off well. The final Principal was Sharon Cornes as the Empress of Morocco, a nice performance, although her accent confused me somewhat!
The Ensemble were terrific, always delivering on stage and very enthusiastic. I particularly liked If I Was Not Aboard This Ship, a traditional panto ‘gag’, but very well delivered. All the traditional panto gags were performed with complete commitment and the twist at the end of the ‘monster’ was appreciated by this long-term panto fan.
I did feel that the energy was lacking a bit in the first half, and this affected the pace of the show. However, this picked up well in the second half and the pace was spot on.
I loved the backcloths, there was no credit for them in the programme, so I assume that they were produced by the company. If so, they were excellent, and the scene changes were very well managed in the confined space of that venue. The costumes were beautiful and, as I am a costume person myself, they were very much appreciated. The props were also very well thought out; in particular, the toaster that shot the toast out, I understand it was remote controlled and I suspect it will be well used in pantos in the future, congratulations to the creator.
Lighting and sound were well managed, overall, a great afternoon’s entertainment, my thanks for making us welcome.
SOCIETY Ingatestone Musical Operetta Group
VENUE Ingatestone & Fryerning Community Hall
TYPE OF PRODUCTION Pantomime
DIRECTOR Denyse Donnell
CHOREOGRAPHER Denyse DonnellReportAuthor: Tessa Davies (NODA East Regional Councillor)
IMOG’s annual pantomime is a well-loved and well attended event. With a packed audience for this, their last performance, the audience was in good spirits.
This was a traditional panto script and the show opened with King Rat and the Fairy. Mark Walker played King Rat, and this was an excellent performance, he got the audience involved, although they were a little tentative at first, he soon had them warmed up. He was joined by Fairy Bowbells, played by Alison Chilvers, a delightful performance, and a great verbal duel to open the show.
The principals were good, Ethan Gorsuch-Browne played Dick and his characterisation was excellent and exactly as we would like to see in a panto. He seemed to struggle a bit with a few of his songs and it was evident that they were not in a key that suited his voice. When he got a song in the right key, he was very good. It is so important, when using backing tracks, that the track is in the right key for the performer. It is relatively easy to change a key and I am sure he would have been more comfortable had that been done.
Kirsty Trapp played Alice Fitzwarren beautifully, just the right characterisation, not quite over the top and exactly as we would want to see. She has a lovely voice, and she kept the songs on track.
Steve Critchell played Sarah the Cook; he was a very good Dame. He picked up managing the audience participation from King Rat and, between them, they got the audience joining in more. Sue Elliott played Tiddles the Cat, a crucial character in this story and her performance was extremely enjoyable. Lizzie Clark played Idle Jack, she delivered a great fun character and her energy from the start was infectious. She has extremely expressive facial expressions and it was thoroughly enjoyable to see these through the show. Carly Ersser doubled up as Fitzwarren and Horatio, supposedly twin brothers but, of course, you never saw them on stage together, a nice device in the script and well handled. She gave two very different characters, something that is always tricky to do, but she pulled it off well. The final Principal was Sharon Cornes as the Empress of Morocco, a nice performance, although her accent confused me somewhat!
The Ensemble were terrific, always delivering on stage and very enthusiastic. I particularly liked If I Was Not Aboard This Ship, a traditional panto ‘gag’, but very well delivered. All the traditional panto gags were performed with complete commitment and the twist at the end of the ‘monster’ was appreciated by this long-term panto fan.
I did feel that the energy was lacking a bit in the first half, and this affected the pace of the show. However, this picked up well in the second half and the pace was spot on.
I loved the backcloths, there was no credit for them in the programme, so I assume that they were produced by the company. If so, they were excellent, and the scene changes were very well managed in the confined space of that venue. The costumes were beautiful and, as I am a costume person myself, they were very much appreciated. The props were also very well thought out; in particular, the toaster that shot the toast out, I understand it was remote controlled and I suspect it will be well used in pantos in the future, congratulations to the creator.
Lighting and sound were well managed, overall, a great afternoon’s entertainment, my thanks for making us welcome.
