That’s Entertainment

A slightly illicit photo as I was taking it during the announcement about the taking of photos being prohibited. And though it was meant to be Giant Blunderbore describing the dire consequences if we did take a photo, I recognised the dulcet tones of my friend John under all the electronic effects, and reckoned he wouldn’t mind me taking a photo of the front cloth. Didn’t mention it to him though when I saw him after the show - just in case!
The two most regarded - and longest running - pantomimes in our neck of the woods are the one we put on in early January and the one put on by the Lakes Players towards the end of the same month. There is a friendly rivalry between the two groups and, invariably, we go in groups to watch each other’s shows.
They came to see Cinderella a couple of weeks ago and last night ten of us went to see Jack and the Beanstalk.
We have very different approaches to the productions though. Because we rehearse in our performance space, we can build - and rehearse with - our scenery, props and costumes over a period of months leading up to the actual show. They perform at the Lakes School and only have use of the stage for a week. Consequently, the majority of their scenery, props and costumes are hired in, resulting in a show with lots of costume changes but not that many changes of scenery - a lot of the scenes were played in front of tabs. Another big difference this year was that they had quite a large chorus of children, whilst we had decided not to use them this year due to fears over covid. They have always put many more songs and dance routines into their shows than we do.
But different doesn’t mean “better” or “worse”. We thoroughly enjoyed the show as it was obvious everyone involved was putting their heart and soul into it. Though it does have to be said that the parts we laughed most heartily at were those where it went slightly wrong! Most of the audience probably didn’t spot them but those of us who have had to work around a missed cue or wrong line, recognise the look of panic when it’s happening to someone else!