Pantomimes come in all shapes and sizes, and indeed, these days are available throughout the year not just as once they were, exclusively for Christmas. So during the school's February half-term, local amateur and community society, St. Gabriel's took to the stage as part of their 50th anniversary year to present Aladdin, the show that 50 years' ago, kick-started the society into being.
Energy levels were high and the entire team's commitment and dedication to this endeavour were omnipresent and despite a rather slow and uninspiring start, the tempo soon picked up and the audience were laughing - even ad-libbing their own conversations - with the cast as we went along! The biggest problem this evening was sadly the running time of the show. Including a fifteen minute interval, the panto was over some 185 minutes after it started. Three hours was simply too long and many people around me (myself too) were feeling numb bums and fidgeting.
It was a large cast and the society utilised three separate choruses (young children / older children / adults) who all had to have their separate songs and dances. The set design was kept to a minimum - as were costumes and make-up), but what was used worked well, apart from two of the flats used for two of the sets. Here we were presented with a rural village in England to represent Peking, and a landscaped country estate garden for a forest. This was a shame, since both the laundry and the palace sets worked well
It is a very difficult task directing a show, especially one which has many scenes, many characters and a lot happening throughout, and so for Georgina Sutton to take this on as well as taking a leading role in the show too (she played one of the two comedy policemen), was perhaps a little too much for her. Many of the jokes in the show were not given their full weight, and although all the cast the knew their characters and how they fit into the whole and their development, they certainly needed an expert eye to point them and push them in the right directions. There were many pregnant pauses and hiatuses which should not have been there. Yes, this is panto, and ad-libbing is part of the fun of such a show, but that is itself an art which needed to be practised a little more during rehearsals. That being said however, this was opening night, and so hopefully the cast will find their feet and pick up on their cues, reducing the running time a little for their next shows. Overall the show lacked pace, as each scene change or lengthy extemporised dialogue dragged on a little most unfortunately. Some of the funniest moments of this evening's epic were those moments which happened unexpectedly, when things go wrong and the audience lap it up!
Unfortunately (once again) it was not a particularly inspiring script. (I note that Georgina Sutton is once again credited with writing this script). Perhaps the society should have opted for an already published one. There was a distinct lack of the traditional pantomime repartee and responses that one associates with this genre. We were longing for a "behind you" or a "yes it is / no it isn't" but they never came. Only one set routine was worked into the script - the ghost on the bench - and even Widow Twankey's audience response didn't work because it had to be initiated by the audience, not a call in reply to a line from her.
All the principals worked well and gave their alls during the show, providing the audience with a range of characters and caricatures, mostly familiar, and we did start in traditional panto territory having the baddie (Abanazar) enter from SL and The Slave of the Lamp - the goodie - enter SR. Aladdin was played with solid determination and earnestness by Olivia Taylor, whilst Amelia Hanif Ahmed provided the beauty and glamour for him to fall in love with with ease as Princess Jasmin. Mark Dorosz put much of himself and some more besides into creating an unfamiliar familiar interpretation of Widow Twankey, and Dannie Coates worked well as Wishee Washee. Playing a baddie can be fun, and Paul Murtough wrung his character for all it was worth, interacting nicely with the youngsters on the front row. The comedy policemen TuHi and TuLo were played respectively by Mike Newton and Georgina Sutton, The Emperor was Martyn Tierney, his Vizier, Nicola Sutton, and the princesses governess SoShi was played by Emma Moody. I enjoyed Harry Ingham and Jessica Taylor as they made up the magical twosome of Genie of the Lamp and Slave of the Ring, both working well as individuals and almost a as a double-act too.
The act one finale, 'From Now On' was truly impressive, with full chorus fortissimo full-on. The energy, sound, and overall feel of this number was spot on. If that had been carried throughout the show it would have been a truly impressive spectacle.
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
On - 18.2.26
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