NODA North West Magazine

ROBINSON CRUSOE (2005)

Macclesfield Majestic Theatre

Producer: Nigel Wells
Musical Director: Ian Jones
Choreography: Gillian Hulme & Sue Clayton

This pantomime had some good ingredients, colourful costumes, and an enthusiastic chorus. However, it lacked pace from the outset.

Michael Daws in the title role was well cast and retained his character throughout. He was teamed up with Katie Barker as Polly and together worked hard. Kevin Clarke as the Dame gave a good performance as did Ebb and Flow (Nic Dobson and Daniel Thorley), the comedy duo. Claire Mannion made a good Friday but it took a little while for Sid Smith as Billy to get the audience going.

A rather disappointing performance came from Gary Wade as the Mayor. His diction was very unclear and he tended to keep his head down most of the time. Sarah Firth as the Sprite also seemed to struggle and didn't look comfortable in the part. However, Matt Wilson as Bluebeard gave an assured performance and certainly had the audience booing. The chorus and dancing numbers, whilst well chosen for this pantomime and well performed, did seem rather long at times. I did, however, like the underwater scene, which was both colourful and well costumed.

The chosen back-cloths were very colourful but were too short for this stage and spoilt the effect in some scenes. Whilst I feel disappointed that some negative comments have been made, I do feel that on this occasion this was warranted as this production was not up to your usual high standard.

Thank you for your hospitality during the evening.

 

 

 

 

Next Show

"Oklahoma"
.............
4th to 9th October 2010