Jack and the Beanstalk Gala Night
Jack and the Beanstalk, presented by PR Productions at Bedworth Civic Hall, from Friday 13 December to Tuesday 24 December.
Review by Ann Evans
It was a return to their roots for PR Productions as they began their run of Jack and the Beanstalk at Bedworth Civic Hall. The last time they staged this panto was back in 1996 and there have been a few changes since then! In particular, the closure of Bedworth Civic Hall in 2022 and the re-opening in July of this year.
Friday 13th saw the official Gala Opening Night and crowds packed into the Civic Hall looking forward to a great evening’s entertainment. Marking the opening night, there were sweets and orange juice for all the children on arrival and prosecco for the adults.
It was a packed house for the show, and the audience was soon in the spirit of the show with plenty of cheering and booing of the heroes and villains. But I can’t say this was your typical panto as there was lots of technical and digital applications going on, and a bit of a time-warp feeling with a current TV news thing going on featuring Jonny Howes as News Anchor Ken Daly reporting back through the show of life down in the village of Nobbly End, where Jack and his family lived.
Perhaps the most surprising part of this panto is the use of digital backdrops instead of actual painted scenery. So, scenes change from village streets to castle dungeon to ballrooms and so on, in the blink of an eye. We only meet the giant on screen too. And while all the digital effects are possibly more efficient, I questioned whether it holds that traditional panto magic. A matter of opinion I suppose.
Very traditional and gorgeous was Daisy the panto cow – loved her! And Dame Gertie Grabbit was excellent – played by Paul Gibson. Her sons were our hero Jack Grabbit played by Martin Foley and the very funny Willy Grabbit played by Guy Spreadborough. The Dame and Willy brought delightful chaos to the audience with their water fights - the kids absolutely loved this!
Also taking a lead role was Rob Hiatt in the role of King Oliver Do Dah, while two other villainous characters were Cecil Slugwart played by Craig Garner-Beasley who was out to rob anyone and everyone and the wicked queen’s henchman Tom Derby making his debut appearance – who the audience loved to boo.
It did however feel that the male leading characters outnumbered the female characters, with Princess Poppy played by Eleanor Charman making only brief appearances, so not really giving the storyline between her and Jack a chance to develop - only a few hearts flashed up in the background told the audience that they liked one another. I would loved to have heard more singing from her too, as the one song she sang revealed a lovely singing voice.
Good performance by her handmaid/best friend Lily played by Esther Barnett who was also making her debut performance. But doing it for the girls was a strong performance by the evil Queen Desdemona played by local dance school principal Julie Bromage – another villain for the audience to boo.
All of the costumes in the show were gorgeous and the large chorus line-up singers and dancers were excellent in every routine including the very little ones who perform beautifully.
For tickets go to: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/bedworth/bedworth-civic-hall/jack-and-the-beanstalk
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