Sleeping Beauty – Carol Cleveland, Tom Beard

Who goes to a pantomime on a dull December Monday morning? Well, plenty of folk do and most of them were under ten. Without any overture or opening number Maleficent (Cleveland), the wicked queen/ witch/dame and a gabby puppet dragon wound the children up with her scary ways and plots. The story continued with Muddles (Beard) and Beauty, aka Sleepy Jean, in their first song and dance. The stage is cramped, the plot’s confused, the jokes weak but it’s panto and the children loved it. The charming children’s chorus and the audience full of youngsters make this a great success.

Ropetackle, Shoreham, 22 December 2014

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