The test of any pantomime must be when you face a highly discerning audience of mixed infants – many of whom might not have been to the theatre before. This performance of Jack and The Beanstalk at Haverhill Arts Centre for the whole of Linton Infants School hit all the right notes – and definitely in the right order.
The youngsters were engaged and responding from the very start. They were rapt with attention when they should be – and blasting the roof off when required. As it happens, as a seasoned panto goer for more decades than I should probably tell anyone, I loved it too.
The show fizzed along from the opening lines when Celena Cherry’s Fairy Honey glittered onto the stage and told us all would be well. That was before we even knew it might not be. Soon we knew all right. David Learner’s very wicked Fungus Fleshcreep was booed to his twitching eyebrows. He trained at RADA, and they teach you to be extremely wicked there.
There are strong performances here. Michael Heslop’s glorious Dame Trott is absolutely superb. Traditional casting lore is that no one plays a dame aged under 45 but Heslop aged 20 (he was Sarah the Cook in Haverhill’s Dick Whittington last year aged 19) is all you could ever want a dame to be. His is a commanding performance. He’s not just funny as he glides about the stage acting down to his fingertips, he can bring a tear to the eye.
In the scene where Dame Trott tells Daisy the Cow how sad she is to sell him Heslop’s Trott appeared so genuinely sorry and Aaron Blackburn’s Daisy so really unhappy – but reconciled to it – that I actually found it moving. Daisy is part of the family, says Dame Trott: “There are all kinds of families – and family means the people who love you.”
Dan Schumann, Haverhill Art Centre’s manager and creative director, who wrote and directed the show, says he learned from the great panto legends that pantomime doesn’t work unless you take it seriously.
Illusionist Magic Kai, playing Simple Simon, performs magic tricks which appear impossible. Sinead Mathias-Medeiros as Jack Trott (he of the Beanstalk) and Jodie Corbett as Jill Kindheart his adored are full of personality. They are played as real people, not parodies. The costumes are colourful and the young dancers from Lisa Mason School of Dance (Team Beans and Team Stalks) add a lot of charm.
The show is peppered with neat jokes: “My wife left me and took my satellite dish – No woman no sky.” There are also some great tunes which had the adults in the audience singing along (with Schumann’s lyrics): “Daisy Love” to the tune of Baby Love, Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby One More Time, Simply the Best and I’m a Believer.
This was a fast-paced, fun show with sparkle which leaves a feeling of happiness and warmth – a lovely Christmas treat.
