NOCK

THEATRE

Panto tradition

DEEP Cove Stage’s (DCS) every entry until they meet their

. Christmas pantomime has just desserts (sometimes the afore-
become such a popular part mentioned pie in the face) and the
of Cove tradition that tick- hero marries the princess.

ets become scarcer each year.

There were still a few seats left
at this time [ast year
but this year’s run (to
Jan. 3) is already sold
out, leaving the slim
prospect of arriving
very carly at a pertur-
mance and waiting for
ticket returns as your
anly option.

A “panto” isa
funny beast — that is
funny as in odd. They
can also be comic, but
only with hard work.

Based on primarily English the-
atrical and music hall cradition,
panto’s are a mixture of nursery
thyme or fable, campy men dressed
as women, topical reference, cory
comedy, pic-in-the-face slapstick
and raucous songs.

Audience participation is
requested — nay, demanded — in
support of the good guys while the
villains are booed and hissed at

On the face of it, panto’s are 2
sure ber at Christmas, but as
Widow Twankey might say,
“There’s more to
laundry than cold
water.”

Rich production vat-
ues often run beyond
the reach of commu-
nity theatre groups, so
set and costume can
suffer (although the
na BA DCS costumes look
Wane good this year thanks
Makau to Pat Chetwynd and
May Weir) while the
problem with all panto’s is their
tendency to stop.

A succession of characters intro-
duce themselves directly to the
audience and then stop for a chat
on every subsequent appearance;
scene changes require something tc
happen in front of the curtains
while the set crew goes to work;
and songs stop the action dead on
a regular basis.

On the other hand, audience

NEWS photo Paut KcGrath

DEEP Cove’s traditiona! pante ingredients: (from right) the herc (Poppy Reiner); the big, bad
guy (Ted Bouskill); pantomime dame (Robin Ward); attractive princess (fara Kobewka); pan-
tomime cow (Kitty Younkers, Diane Alton-Kaighin) and comic fool (Damon Calderwood).

-Members have been coming to the
DCS panto since they were kids
themselves and provide some of the
energy themselves, knowing exactly
when to shout “How big is it?”

The battle on the mortal plain
this year is joined between a very
good Jack (Poppy Reiner) and a

well-balanced (you had to be there)
Giant (Ted Bouskill), while the
magical battle berween gods is
somewhat uneven with an cnergeti-
cally evil Clarence Sponagle easily
blowing away the Vegetable Fairy
(Janet Hobbs) with her magic leek!
Comedy comes from the loose-

ly-wigged Robin Ward as Dame
Trot, an affectingly innocent
Damon Calderwood as Silly Billy
and Daizee the dancing cow.

Now if only director Mike Jarvis
could have stopped them singi
— especially when Mark Fenster :
shows how it should be done!

- i _ Awaken to a Program of
a Hope & Healing
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SENTINEL

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