Cinderella

by David Swan

Performed at Church Hill Theatre, Morningside Road
Wednesday 17th - Saturday 27th December 2008

Creative Team Director Colin Peter Musical Director Moira Hepburn Choreographer Mandy Black Lighting Designer Steve Roberts Sound Designers Peter Horsfall Craig Robertson Costume Designer Carol Caldwell Large Objects Design Lawrie Buchan Stage Manager Andrew Hope Production Manager Neil Urquart The Cast Zelda Lyzzie Dell Wanda Sheila Somerville Trick Mandy Black Treat Anne Mackenzie Buttons Ronnie Millar Cinderella Mairi Beaver Baron Boris Rob Ricks Lavatrina Iain Fraser Potterina Will MacIver Prince Charming W Scott Hale Dandini Peter Grey Pongo Jonathon Roberts Spider Scott Braidwood Programme Cover Centre

Review:

Edinburgh Evening News - Thom Dibdin (Friday, 18th December 2008) **

Clunky effort just not quite on the ball...

GREAT songs, well-sung and smoothly worked into a nicely different take on the traditional Cinderella story are among the highlights of the Edinburgh People's Theatre Pantomime, which runs for a fortnight at the Church Hill Theatre. The best trick from writer David Swan is his setting of the show in the Sixties. Besides the songs, it allows him to have Cinders' father as Baron Fortune of Pumpherstone, who is opening his castle to the public to ease his failing funds.

With Ronnie Millar's very bright Buttons taking on duties as tour guide, the chorus get to be tourists. They are universally flabbergasted that such a poorly dressed person as Cinders, (beautifully sung by Mairi Beaver), is the daughter of minor royalty.

The force of good is provided by Wanda, the fairy godmother played with some style by Sheila Somerville. Evil comes in the forms of wicked witch Zelda (Lyzzie Dell), and her bumbling hench-wiches, Trick (Mandy Black) and Treat (Anne Mackenzie). Dell is brilliantly expressive as Zelda, but is somewhat let down by the sound design. Her deliberate on-stage transformation into the Baron's wife provokes howls of outrage from youngsters in the audience – she is studiously ignored by everyone on stage who is oblivious to her darker side.

Not all the audience participation is quite as smoothly incorporated into the plot, however. Indeed, one of the main failings of the production is not letting the participation grow organically. Stopping the show to get the audience to learn one major shout-out for Buttons is fair enough. But to try and incorporate further responses for the arrival of all the major characters just breaks up the flow and slows an already overlong production down.

There's no problem with the other big traditional element, however. Rob Ricks (Lavatrina) and Will MacIver (Potterina) make a great pair of Ugly Sisters, with outrageous dresses, forever chasing the men and using Zelda's love potion to try and make Prince Charming fall for them. While Scott Hale plays the football-mad Prince relatively straight, Peter Gray has immense fun as a wannabe Elvis of a Dandini, gyrating his hips and licking his lips at every woman in sight.

Overall this is great fun and contains some wonderful moments – particularly towards the end when the company move away from the script to include references to Woolworths, Strictly Come Dancing and a nicely reworked verse in one of the songs about transport in Edinburgh. However, there is just too much that is clunky about it. Much, such as the ultraviolet dark show, will improve with practice. Other elements, such as when the audience participation is forced and the rather cramped staging of some of the musical numbers, needs more of a fundamental rethink.

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