Well, it’s all over for another season, but our 2023 pantomime, The Pied Piper, has been a magnificent triumph, playing to seven full and enthusiastic houses between 25th and 29th January. For the first time for many years, the show was made even more enjoyable – for the adult cast and audience alike – by the participation of 21 youngsters from the Junior and Intermediate Groups of the Wargrave Youth Theatre, with three groups of seven children taking it in turns for each performance, dressing up as ratlets, piglets and children of Hamelin. Well done all of you!
Here are a few shots of the show, to give you a flavour of what everyone came to see, and beneath is a heart-warming review submitted by Guy Heiser, himself an experienced WTW pantomime performer. Many thanks to Guy, and to David Williams and Peter Knowles for use of their photographs.
A truly RATified pantomime!
What a joy to be back in the Woodclyffe Hall for a full-strength pantomime from the
Wargrave Theatre Workshop. This year’s offering was The Pied Piper with a script by Alan Frayn – a firm favourite for WTW. The show was packed full of all the panto classics with the forces of good and evil battling it out amongst a plethora of songs, dances, slapstick, and as many rat puns as they could crowbar in!
Also back this year were the youngsters, with members of the WTW youth group performing as rats, piglets, and the children of Hamelin. If there is one thing that is a certainty in a Linda Daman directed pantomime, it is that the music is going to take centre stage – and this was definitely the case in The Pied Piper. We had everything from duets, comic numbers, ensemble dance routines and dramatic songs from a wide variety of musicals. This year saw a new Musical Director in Lousia Briguglio, who did an impressive and inspiring job that even included some live flute playing.
The Pied Piper is probably a less commonly performed pantomime but most of us know the core of the plot – the German town of Hamelin is overrun by rats and desperate for a solution. A mysterious character in “pied clothing” appears and promises to rid the city of its problem in return for payment of 1000 guilders. The Burgomeister agrees, and the Piper plays a magical pipe to lure all the city’s rats to the river, where they drown. When the Pied Piper returns for his reward, the Burgomeister refuses to pay and things take a dramatic
turn for the worse with the children of Hamelin being lured away by the Piper’s tune.
All our favourite characters were there, with Fairy Strudel, played with a determined sweetness by Julia Tabrah, battling it out in faultless rhyme with Sour-Kraut the Witch (Kelly Doward). Special mention must go to the excellent Kelly, whose German accent stayed true to the last – even when she was singing an outstanding duet with the wonderful Rat-Worst the Chief Rat. What another spectacular performance from Peter Hughes as the said Rat Worst. He used his comic timing, his musical ability, not to mention his amazing tail – all with great aplomb.
Clive Dow played the Burgomeister with perfect pomposity and this was in nice comparison to the gentleness of his daughter Heidi (Tanya Jessop). Heidi is in love with Hans (played with great style by Rachael Wood) who works for the Burgomeister as the town clerk and is son of Helga (of whom more later!). The comic duo of Blatter and Splatter (a pair of hapless, failing rat-catchers) were played beautifully by two seasoned WTW pantomime regulars, Emmajane Hughes and Graham Wheal. Talking of rats, we were treated to a tour de for-some in the shape of Ian Bacon, Jake Wheal, Freddy Meader and Lloyd Scrivener as Squeaky, Cheeky, Beaky and Leaky.
And so to the less traditional characters for The Pied Piper! Helga von Trump is our Pantomime Dame – a sausage-maker and pig farmer. Mike Watt’s performance was as cheeky, funny, and assured as ever, with a great opening set of gags and some wonderful audience interaction. And she made it very clear that she was not related to that other Trump! As well as Helga’s sensible son, Hans, we also had the daft one – Willie. Sara Beazley was a superb Willie – full of energy at every entrance as we all shouted “Don’t be a Silly Billy, Willie”.
In another sign of things returning to normal, we had a full-strength Chorus of Jennie Curtis, Tori Dunne, Cath Evans, Patricia Frost, Henry Marchant, Ann Pearce, Alex Schatunowski (a man made for lederhosen if there ever was one!) and Paula Watt. The adult chorus, along with all the Wargrave Youth Theatre, brought the songs, dances, and scenes in Hamelin to life.
Our eponymous hero was performed by Josie Daman (who was also in charge of Choreography) with a never-failing smile and huge vigour. Her live performance of the Pipes as she led the rats out of Hamblin was fantastic, and we all knew she wasn’t going to harm the village children, didn’t we?
Every WTW production needs a talented and committed team behind the scenes, and this is never more true than for the pantomime. Sheila Williams on Set Design and Dave Robinson as Stage Manager are a formidable partnership. They head up a large team including set construction, set painters and backstage crew whose work is hugely important and appreciated. Jenny Manning led on props and Linda Daman, not content with just being the talented Director, also led the costume team. Simon Calverley on lights provided clever lighting particularly for the River Weser as it flowed down the steps from the stage. Peter Knowles and Rod Murray, on sound, gave us humorous and well-timed sounds that added hugely to the comedy.
Some of my highlights of the panto included a great performance of The Wellerman sea shanty, an unusual scene at Helga’s pig farm and a hilarious sausage cooking routine that was packed with more innuendo than I thought was possible!
And then, as if this wasn’t enough, we were treated to a proposal live on stage as Josie Daman’s boyfriend Chris got down on one knee at the end of the Saturday night performance. Oh no he didn’t … Oh yes he did!
Congratulations to Josie and Chris on your upcoming nuptials and to Linda and everyone at WTW for bringing us a hugely entertaining evening.
Guy Heiser