Another Unbiased Review - Oh, no it's not!

Last night I went to see the final performance of Maldon Pantomime Society's production of Babes in the Wood.

It is impossible to impartially review anything when you know people who are performing.  The man sitting next to us wolf whistled every time Maid Marian appeared on stage, which surprised us a little until we found out that he was her husband.  Now, I'm not saying she wasn't lovely and very good in the role, she was but wolf-whistling seemed somehow excessive.

I love a bit of pantomime silliness.  I like the stupidly, predictable jokes, cross dressing, musical jokes and the well defined good and evil roles.  I like to be able to shout (although I don't think anyone noticed that I was miming my, "Behind You"s).  And I particularly enjoy last night panto, where all the directors previous instructions have been ignored and the more confident performers show their improvising skills and play practical jokes on each other.  This panto didn't disappoint.  There were plenty of parts that seemed just a little fresher than you would expect.  The Tesco burger jokes could have been written in but as there were so many of them I suspect the cast were having a competition to see how many they could get in and the hoover was inspired.

There wasn't a member of the cast that didn't do a good job in my opinion but I did have some favourites. The comedy duo were probably my favourite characters.  Steve Williams, played Mole, the cleverer of the two, bringing all his Shakespearean skills to the role, while Wart was played by Rene Thorneloe, whose accent reminded me of Pam Ayres so much so that every time she spoke I wanted to sing, "Oh, how I wish I'd looked after me teeth."  She also had the unenviable task of pretending she couldn't sing and she was so sweet and funny that the whole audience ahhed when she was told she couldn't sing.  Cally Beale made a wonderful principal boy with great legs - not many people can carry off the green tights! Andrea Dalton had a cackle that I can only dream of.  Oh, how I wish I could cackle like that.

The band were fantastic under the musical directorship of Ben Markham, the singing was in tune and the dancing was brilliantly choreographed by Louise Markham and Charlotte Hall.  But with out a doubt the best part was the children, who were absolute stars.  They danced sang and smiled their way through 6 shows.  I was so impressed I managed to get some of them to sign my programme because when they are famous I will have proof of their first performance.