Review: Sleeping Beauty - Acting, dancing and singing make this the pantomime of the season
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Sleeping Beauty - Performed by Tread the Boards at The Cidermill Theatre, Chipping Camden, Monday 23/12/24 [until 31 December 2024].
Director: John-Robert Partridge
Review written by Charles Essex


As well as performing Sleeping Beauty at their home base at The Attic Theatre, a completely different Tread the Boards [TTB] cast is performing Robin Hood at the Cider Mill Theatre in Chipping Camden.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdTTB showed the depth and quality of talent they can call upon as they delivered a cracking show. Multi-talented John-Robert [JR] Partridge wrote and directed this pantomime, and starred in it as the dame, Dotty. The dame has to have a sidekick as a foil for jokes and share the engagement with the audience, and George Ormerod was ideal as Silly Willy. The quality of the writing and jokes was top drawer, and JR and George had perfect comic timing.
Jon Kerr was the suitably vain and villainous Sheriff of Nottingham, who robbed from the poor and pursued Maid Marian [Abigail Drennan]. Ben Butler was a rather bumbling Robin Hood, rather than the archetypal Russell Crowe or Kevin Costner hero, humorously inept and gauche in his wooing of Marian. The interaction of the cast with the audience was superb and George's engagement with the young children who came onto the stage was especially touching. Chelsea Marie was the delightful rhyming Fairy Fabulous who linked the various scenes.
The overwhelming feature of this performance was the terrific quality of all parts of the production. The backdrops on this large stage were magnificent, whilst the acting, and singing were first rate. All singers performed strongly and could hold a tune. However it was the quality of the dancing that was the icing on the cake. Choreographer Helen Leek arranged some wonderful routines that dancers Bethany Tolhurst-McWattGreen and Chloe Price, both of whom are clearly highly trained, performed to perfection. Sequences involving all the cast were equally slick.
This was a superlative performance. Get tickets before the run ends as this show is not to be missed.
Tickets from www.theattictheatre.co.uk [including details of adult performances]