By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 28 November 2018)
It’s a
Christmas tradition in certain parts of the world, including at Braeburn School,
to celebrate the season with a pantomime theatrical production.
Braeburn’s
selection this year was ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (B&B) which was staged this
past weekend at its Gitanga Road campus, and most assuredly was nothing like
either the Disney movie version of the story or the traditional one.
There were
traditional elements to the show however. The story was typically a fairy tale
featuring a ‘Principal boy’ which is always played by a female (Shelina Allport)
and a ‘Dame’ which is usually played by a man. But here was the first major
departure from tradition that director Charlotte Everest dared to make in this
wildly inventive pantomime.
Ms Everest
made several delightful departures from panto’s centuries-old traditions in
B&B. For one, the ‘Dame’ was a female, a truly eccentric Madame Fifi (Jazz
Mistri). Another was the introduction of both live and recorded pop music, none
of which was Christmasy, but all of which was heaps of fun to watch. It was
especially fun as the youngsters (both on and off stage) were clearly delighted
with the ebullient energy that got unleashed, thanks to Madam Fifi’s frivolity
and flamboyant style of commanding everyone to get up and dance along with her.
What Ms
Everest didn’t change were ‘the goodies’ and the baddies, headed by Flora, the sweet
Good Fairy (Jenny Childs) and Belladonna, the cackling Bad Fairy (Joanna Hechle).
Bella’s a real schemer and quite a scary bad witch who nearly succeeded in
toppling the reign of Ms Good Fairy as well as the hope of the Prince.
There was
genuine suspense in this sinister battle between good and evil. Fortunately,
the goodies had a secret weapon in Madame Fifi who you just knew had to ultimately
win the day. But in the process, Braeburn’s youthful director succeeded in
sucking us all in (including adults and toddlers), into the battle that Bella and
her minions nearly won.
Ms. Everest
was only at Braeburn on a three month residency. Conveniently, she was at the
school just long enough to direct her first pantomime and shake up tradition
sufficiently to turn it upside down.
One reason
she got away with revolutionizing the old model without ruffling too many
traditionalists’ feathers is because the majority of cast members, especially
the young ones loved her contemporary approach. Also, she’s a hands-on
professional who took charge of the sound, lights and visual projections as
well as directing. That meant special effects like the timing of thunder and
lightning (signaling activation of Bella’s curse) was impeccable as were the
snappy set and scene changes.
Ms. Everest
didn’t give the audience a moment to have our attention lapse since the
momentum of theatrical action never waned. There wasn’t a single clumsy,
time-consuming set change, of the kind that lead audiences to lose what
thespians call that essential ‘suspension of disbelief’. That’s the element of
theatre that inspires someone to get sucked into the alternative reality that theatre
ideally aims to draw every audience into thoroughly.
This
pantomime was most effective in holding us captive for the duration, even
though the audience on Sunday afternoon seemed to be mainly toddlers, moms and pre-teens.
That’s to say the show was enchanting and spicy at the same time. The moments
of adult humor were sufficiently cloaked in double entendre to keep little ones
from being shocked or baffled by off-color jokes or even slams at rival schools.
The show
stealer of the night was undoubtedly Madame Fifi, who not only led the charge
through the Fearsome Forest, into the enchanted castle where the Prince had
been transformed into the Beast by Bella’s curse. Fifi also led everyone in
dance, including when she managed to get the majority of kids up on stage to
sing and dance to a simple happy song. Belle (Kate Snow) was also a sweetheart
and her sassy self-centred sisters, Britney (Samantha Mihajlovic) and Whitney
(Razan Gubara) were bossy but beautiful buggers.
The choreography
was also well done. What was especially clever was silverware dance where
Braeburn kids danced dressed as either spoons, plates or forks.
All told,
Beauty and the Beast had multiple campy moments, as a traditional pantomime is
meant to have. But this B&B mixed those moments in with so much joyful
modernity that it was just fun watching this inter-generational cast share a
festive spirit that was well-suited for the upcoming holidays.
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