In my youth, I was part of my local amateur dramatics group, the Modbury Players, and it’s great that all these years later they’re still going strong. After last year’s successful production of Oliver! they’re back this year with a pantomime, RAPUNZEL & FRIENDS, written and directed by Sarah Wyatt, produced by Sally Taylor.
This fun-filled romp is an original story with almost every fairy tale character you can think of making an appearance! Giving everything you expect and want from a community theatre production, RAPUNZEL & FRIENDS boasts a 62 person cast, alongside at least 50 others who helped to put the show together.
The story is narrated by Luna, the evil Grizelda‘s black cat. WIllow Peters is glorious in the role and succinctly tells the story whilst embodying all the idiosyncrasies of a cat! Although the central story is that of Rapunzel, there are lots of other stories intertwined such as those of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel & Gretal and Babes in the Wood! This keeps the production fast- paced and exciting, with never a dull moment.
There were lots of groups of characters including trees, royalty and fairy tale characters, but my favourite has to be the witches and wizards. Sarah Walker gave an epic portrayal as Grizelda, displaying a legendary witches cackle which sent joyous shivers down the spine! Angie Tall was domineering as Maleficent whilst Peter Lowe’s Malachi had a Scottish accent and rolled his R’s more than a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese going down Cooper’s Hill! Ian Godfrey‘s Uncle Nafarious was somewhere between gleefully camp and channelling the spirit of Leslie Phillips – Ding Dong!
Of course, with such a large cast, I simply cannot name-check everyone, but I have to give a mention to Klara Thompson as Rapunzel and Freddy Carder-Lugger as Prince Ethereal. Both completely held their own, conveying every aspect of their characters with believability, and they have wonderful singing voices too.
No review of this production would be complete without mentioning the tower! Constructed by a team of local volunteers, led by Gerry McAllister, the tower looked great from the start, but the unexpected revolve allowing us to see inside was glorious and just goes to show what can be achieved in amateur theatre.
So much hard work and dedication has obviously gone into this production and it epitomises what a fantastic local community there is in Modbury. The Modbury Players wIll be back again very soon with another production, and if the standard of this one is anything to go by, it’s going to be incredible.
Neill Kovacic-Clarke