Pantomime on Tuesday, excellent. I love Pantomimes. We go every year and, in fact, for many years we went to two Pantos, one with our friends S&K and again with the kids. S and I have been to the Panto together every year for the last 25 years.
Last year's pantomime was DIRE. We saw Cinderella last year, at Windsor. Charlie Dimmock was the Fairy Godmother, and she did well considering she wasn't a trained actor. But the rest of the cast were singers, and the whole show revolved around giving them opportunities to sing. The lines were merely delivered, with no feeling or gusto, as though they were going through the motions. What a waste of money that was.
This year it was High Wycombe's turn. It was Cinderella at High Wycombe, with Lesley Joseph, and it was fantastic. She wasn't high on my list of must-see stars (usually we pick pantos by avoiding people we don't want to see) but the Swan has put on some of the best pantomimes over the years and it's worth the trek.
The story this year was very focussed around the Lesley Joseph role of Fairy Godmother. Buttons was really well played by Matt Slack. Almost, but not quite, as good as Brian Conley that we saw there in 2007. (Brian seems to play Buttons every year, and I'd definitely choose to go and see him againbut hasn't been in the area since then). All the cast really threw themselves into it and seemed to be having as good a time as the audience. There was plenty of opportunities for booing and hissing and shouting and generally participating.
Last year's pantomime was DIRE. We saw Cinderella last year, at Windsor. Charlie Dimmock was the Fairy Godmother, and she did well considering she wasn't a trained actor. But the rest of the cast were singers, and the whole show revolved around giving them opportunities to sing. The lines were merely delivered, with no feeling or gusto, as though they were going through the motions. What a waste of money that was.
This year it was High Wycombe's turn. It was Cinderella at High Wycombe, with Lesley Joseph, and it was fantastic. She wasn't high on my list of must-see stars (usually we pick pantos by avoiding people we don't want to see) but the Swan has put on some of the best pantomimes over the years and it's worth the trek.
The story this year was very focussed around the Lesley Joseph role of Fairy Godmother. Buttons was really well played by Matt Slack. Almost, but not quite, as good as Brian Conley that we saw there in 2007. (Brian seems to play Buttons every year, and I'd definitely choose to go and see him againbut hasn't been in the area since then). All the cast really threw themselves into it and seemed to be having as good a time as the audience. There was plenty of opportunities for booing and hissing and shouting and generally participating.
