Beauty And The Beast

Reviews

This year the Blackmore Players presented Beauty and the Beast - A tale as old as time. It was nice to see some familiar faces from the last year and a few new ones too.

I thought it was both brave and inspired to have a live retro rock band on stage as the accompaniment. The band were very good although the sound levels were not always spot on, but it was great to see them throughout the show and they added a different element to the show completely. The set as always, at Blackmore, was great with some excellent props to embellish it, ideally some slightly quicker scene changes would have helped keep the action moving but all in all, it gave a good backdrop to the action.

This year at Blackmore I think I fell for the Dark Side. There were some admirable performances from the 'Goodies of the piece' Kira Beavis as Belle was charming and well-cast as the gentle and beautiful lead, ably accompanied by her greedy and needy sisters Charity played by Linda Raymond and Prudence played by Linda Cearns. Ryan Stevens as the Merchant gave a steady performance and Keith Goody as Mrs Bustle was in high form as the Dame, but it was the Shows 'Baddies' who made my night.

Matthew Pearson as the Beast was suitably fearsome and great credit to him for keeping his characterisation particularly whilst singing 'I Want to Break Free'. Hilary Martin as the Witch gave a great performance, her diction was impeccable, and she really embodied the role of a posh but evil witch.

However, it was Igor and Igor who made my heart beat a little faster!! Steve Drinkall as Igor the ex-servant of Frank-N-Stein and Simon Haskell as Igor the ex-servant of Dracula. Both gentlemen kept their characters throughout and gave us lots of laughs and entertainment.

On a general note, the dialogue was quite often lacking pace and had slow pickups which means pantomime gags could lack punch and delivery but generally the diction was good.

The company although small certainly appeared to have a great time on stage however, one company member in particular regularly caught my eye with her strong stage presence and good reactions. I was brought up being told that 'the art of acting is in re-acting' and Sarah, as I believe her name is, was certainly embodying that. Congratulations to the production team on this year's pantomime and I hope the remaining performances are just as enjoyable.

Nikki Mundell-Poole, https://theatrelife.org

A nice large, and appreciative, audience for this annual event from Blackmore Players. Using the traditional story of Beauty and the Beast is, in my opinion, much better than trying to emulate the Disney version. Director Rebecca Smith did well with her first production. This venue has a small stage and almost no backstage area so putting on a show with scene changes is always challenging. Rebecca made good use of the front of tabs and the scene changes going on behind the tabs were discrete and well timed.

The cast was quite small but, again, this is necessary for the size of the stage. The inclusion of an onstage band was a nice idea but, unfortunately, they were frequently a distraction during the dialogue being performed on stage. Also, because their sound was unmasked it was a bit too loud for some of the singers, drowning out those with less power in their vocals. It might have been better if they had been off stage to obtain a better, balanced, sound overall.

The Principals gave good performances, Matthew Pearson (Prince Pavel/Beast) made the difference between his two characters very clear. Wearing that mask and wig on stage cannot have made it easy but I think it was worth it for the effect! Kira Beavis made a delightful Beauty, she has a nice voice, but it is not too powerful, so she was one that we didn't hear too well over the band. Keith Goody makes an excellent Dame although it would have been nice to see a few costume changes as is traditional with the Dame in Panto.

Steve Drinkall and Simon Haskell were excellent as Igor 1 & Igor 2, two very strong performers who milked the action for everything they could. Linda Raymond and Linda Cearns were good as the two other sisters, Charity and Prudence. Two more seasoned performers who know exactly how to play the audience. Hilary Martin was very good as the Witch, suitably evil. Ryan Stevens (Merchant) and Connor Gardener (Henry) completed the cast together with Jean Appleton who played both the horse and Medium-sized Ben.

There was a small ensemble who worked very hard in all the chorus numbers, providing good support for the production.

Scenery was good, necessarily limited but effective, costumes were lovely, sound was good, especially the sound effects and the lighting was spot on.

A nice evening's entertainment, thank you for inviting me.

Tessa Davies, NODA