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Beauty And The Beast
CARDS
I always look forward to CARDS pantomime. Not only do I enjoy their productions but I also get a chance to meet up and converse with good old friends. That forms part of panto surely!
This year for Creech and Ruishton Dramatic Society it is Beauty and the Beast.
The script, written by Alan Frayn contained all the pantomime traditions but of course you needed a strong cast to really pull this off. Under the Direction of Caroline Kelly I think this was well achieved. The casting of any production can present challenges but I believe you had the balance ‘spot-on’.
I felt this was a resplendent show and all principals, adult and junior chorus held this production together with flair and all movements indicated total confidence. There was a good variety of dance routines – and on such a small stage – and good upbeat numbers adding vibrancy to the show. Pace was lost at times though and I was surprised that your prompt was still active on the forth night! At times the audience were left starring at curtains or an empty stage. Although this may have only been seconds, it can seem eternity in pantomime world. I believe a couple of extra rehearsals would have been beneficial to this established society.
You had some great comedy moments thanks to your experienced team of Lazy Lucy (Katie Symons), Madame Fifi (Stewart Thorne), Marcel (Matt Battersby) and Monique (Sophie Durdan). I thought Ermengarde (Kelly Durdan) and Esmeralda (Emma Walters) were almost ‘Ab Fab’ too.
I certainly enjoyed the Beauty Parlour moments. This was well rehearsed comedy maintaining a good pace. Matt, you are a total natural in comedy roles and held this scene together with panache – however, I will be sticking with Sarah Hodge for my cut and blowdrys!
Other strong performances came from Belle (Hannah Carolan) and The Beast/Prince Danton (David Williams). You both had commanding stage presence and excellent singing voices to complement your diction.
Flora (Athena Dare) and Belladonna (Kelle Hebron) – Here were rock-solid performances showing good stage presence and much confidence.
All costumes were society made and looked splendid under the lighting. The walk down was very appealing indeed.
Make- up was generally well applied on most of the cast although I felt some of the younger members looked a little ’washed out’ on stage. I would have been inclined to have made Belladonna more sinister looking. She came across as looking too beautiful for her role. I was a little unsure of Madame Le Fou’s make-up also – I couldn’t understand all of those lines!
However, this was certainly one of CARDS better productions and I thank you for a most enjoyable evening – and with two raffle prizes under my arm what better way to spend an evening! Thank you all.
Nigel Ford
Moderator. Somerset Fellowship of Drama.