Lyndhurst Drama and Musical Society’s Puss in Boots was a triumph
LYNDHURST Drama and Musical Society put on a brilliant pantomime this year, Puss in Boots.
The theatre was full to bursting with an eager audience of all ages, including an excited pack of Beavers who gave us a ‘Grand Howl’ before the show began. All the lovely panto gags were there: the dame, the prince (or in this case, marquis), the baddie, the ogre, lots of ‘awful’ jokes, plenty of gags and a terrific bunch of children taking on multi-roles.
The whole cast was perfect, the script by Stuart Ardern suitable for an audience of all ages, but the veritable star of the show was 12-year-old Elspeth Dyer, the eponymous cat. Her confidence and stage presence were superlative. Strutting around the stage for pretty much the whole show, her long part was perfectly delivered with infinitesimal pauses just before each punchline – a real natural. (I am pleased I managed to get her autograph before she becomes world-famous!)
The younger Hugo Carfax as the herald soon built up a large fan club, receiving louder and louder cheers whenever with bulging cheeks, he tried to blow a large horn to announce the queen’s arrival. I could happily list each member of the talented cast but there is insufficient room for this.
However I must mention Amy Godfrey-Arkle as an impressive Dame, dressed in stylish colourful outfits; Gemma Wilks as the superb principal boy, Tom; Megan Rhodes as the charming newt-loving Princess and John Gardner as the bumbling, money-chasing, baddie Chancellor who wants to marry the princess for her wealth. But don’t forget Charlotte Dawson as – who would expect - a Halibut and Glen Blackburn continuously rushing around the theatre as the Donkey swiftly pursued by Alisha Kirk as Dick.
This was a good fun evening for all ages with lots of ‘to and fro’ with the audience who happily joined in with all the traditional responses (and many of their own!), skilfully directed by Peter Dawson. Roll on next year!
Alison Smith