Still time to see pantomime at Blackfriars

There are goodies, baddies, comedy, scary scenes and a lot of ‘he’s behind you’.

The story opens with the Fairy Godmother, played by Lydia Appleton.

Throughout the tale, there are appearances from the Fairy Godmother, to update the audience on what is going on.

Lydia sings beautifully throughout the show, and shows off her talents as a musician playing the violin.

The tale follows Sherriff of Nottingham, who is plotting to kill his niece Eleanor and nephew Wilfred, know as The Babes, who were played by Lilly-Grace Horrey and Harry Baggaley.

In the performance, Lilly stepped in as the reserve to play Eleanor, and did a great job for her first time playing the character.

The Sherriff is played well by Dave Kustard, with him having to portray not just his character’s evil side, but also handle comedic moments.

Comedy is provided by Muddles, played by Mike Carnell, with a favourite scene being Muddle’s accidently drinking some voice-changing medicine.

Another favourite was Nurse Martha, played by Ian Moore. Nurse Martha delivered fantastic one-liners which went down very well with the audience.

Nurse Martha was funny throughout, and when coupled with Muddles, Nurse Martha’s son, the pair were a delight.

A credit should be given to the Babes and The Dancers, who were under the wings of Abi Kingsley Parker, choreographer of the production.

Babes and The Dancers attended open auditions, and three teams of babes and dancers were chosen due to the high level of talent.

Dancers had fantastic costumes and they had clearly spent hours rehearsing, not putting a foot wrong.

A special mention should also be given to the fairest maiden of them all, Maid Marion, played by Ellie Carroll, who sang beautifully throughout.

Maid Marion was great in her role, and especially good when joined by Muddles and evil sidekick to Sherriff of Nottingham, Big Mick Walter.

Big Mick agreed to help The Sherrif of Nottingham with his cunning plan of killing Eleanor and Wilfred, but had some comedic moments on stage.

Maid Marion was very believable, and when joined by Robin Hood, played by Rebecca Hardcastle, the pair were perfect and shared some lovely duets together.

Robin was played brilliantly, and was the perfect hero who managed to save the day.

Robin Hood and The Babes In The Wood is fun for the whole family.

The pantomime finishes on Tuesday, January 3, so there is still time to catch this fantastic show.