The Ury Players had the audience warmed up from the get-go on a drizzly night in Stonehaven on Tuesday.
This was the relaxed performance of their panto Rapunzel which is running this week in the Town Hall.
The opening number was Queen’s Somebody To Love and it immediately showed the versatility and talent of this admired amateur dramatics company based in the Mearns.
King Duncan, played by Murray Lawson, can certainly carry a tune and impressively hit the high note on the word “to” which boded well for the show to come.
The rest of the cast provided pleasing harmonies and a wonderful spectacle in their splendid courtly costumes in rich jewel colours, interesting fabrics and lots of detail.
A particularly exciting aspect of this panto is the music which ranges from You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) by Dead or Alive to the stirring ‘Dance of The Knights’ section in Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet.
The sound system was excellent and the acoustics of the Town Hall are surprisingly good.
Additional and incidental music and sound effects came courtesy of Magnus Shanks on piano and Steve Duncan on drums.
There was something charming and authentic about having just a traditional piano and a single drum with snare and served as proof that sometimes less really is more.
Stonehaven panto has novel idea for sponsorship
The script by Ury Player Tim Roberts trotted along as nicely as all the king’s horses, with jokes and local references sprinkled throughout.
The production has been sponsored by several local businesses and these were cleverly included in the dialogue as a sort of product placement.
This was a novel approach and was especially interesting for a local audience, rooting the production firmly in the heart of the town.
One especially enjoyable pantomime convention is to draw on the peculiarities of the location and this was used to great effect, providing lots of laughs throughout.
Quips about the treacherous route to Drumlithie and the threat of banishment to Newtonhill was sure to delight a Stonehaven audience.
As was the idea of enjoying a Guinness in the Market Bar and venturing as far as Cowie.
Mention of a medieval Old Town Chat Board was surely a reference to the popular Stonehaven Chat on Facebook only this version discussed missing pigs as well as cats.
Top marks for the villain and the dame
Every panto needs a dastardly villain and an amazing dame and on both counts this production did not disappoint.
Earning every boo was Kirsty Copeland as Lord Bunny, who gave a poised and polished performance worthy of any professional.
Dame Gothel, played by Garry Brindley, would have come close to stealing the show had it not been for the standard of talent displayed by the other principals.
Hero Finn played by Joshua GT Horsfall and Dylan played by Dawson Horsfall are surely stars in the making with strong singing voices and an abundance of stage presence.
Jaimee Hesketh was suitably sweet as Rapunzel and had nice chemistry with the dashing Finn. It was also good to see so many younger people among the cast.
Bandit Leader Meaghan Peters led a merry band of dancers who were well choreographed and provided a pleasing change of pace during the proceedings.
Even ABBA puts in an appearance
This version of Rapunzel had something that has clearly been missing from other pantos in the past – a dance break featuring ABBA’s Does Your Mother Know?
The song choices in this show add greatly to the overall enjoyment, the highlight being a rendition of Rockin’ All Over The World.
This had the whole cast smiling, playing air guitar and real guitar, on stage and in the aisles – and a royally festive time was had by all.
Rapunzel runs until December 7 at Stonehaven Town Hall with tickets available from www.uryplayers.co.uk/boxoffice and www.ticketsource.co.uk/uryplayers
Conversation