Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Daisy Wilkins (Dazoo Art) for kind permission to use their photos on behalf of The Chameleons. Other images created in Book Brush using their images or ones taken from Pixabay. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.
One lovely thing about January, to escape from the fact is it does seem to go on forever, is it gives Janet and I the chance to get to the pantomime again – oh yes it does!
This time, on Thursday 29th January, we went to see The Chameleon Theatre Company perform Camelot The Pantomime, which was written by Ben Crocker. For more information, and a chance to read some of the script, do check out the link.
As you can imagine from a title like this, the pantomime was huge fun. (Images of Monty Python did come to my mind when I saw that title).
Plot
Will Prince Arthur save the beautiful Guinevere from the wicked Valerin the Vicious? Can Merlin, with the help of Connie the nurse and her Teddy Bear, defeat the evil Morgan Le Fay and her foolish Knights?
Guinevere is on her way to meet Prince Arthur and marry him the next day to secure Camelot’s future. Morgan Le Fay wants Camelot to be in ruins so that wedding has to be stopped. She convinces Valerin the Vicious (and his Mum) that he was meant to marry Guinevere and Morgan has a parchment to prove he had the right to marry her from birth.
Naturally that’s a forgery (nobody can read anything on the paper until Morgan says “look again” and with the sound of bells somehow writing does appear on the paper) but something like a forged document isn’t going to be a problem for someone like Morgan Le Fay. It’s fair to say too that Valerin (and his Mum) are not the sharpest tools in the box and are only too happy to go along with what Morgan Le Fay has in mind.
Also equally naturally Prince Arthur fails in his attempt to meet Guinevere anonymously ahead of the official meeting and, when caught out by her, it is clear she is offended. Not a great start then…
But this is a pantomime. Can love save the day? Can the baddies be stopped?
Of course!
Baddies
Morgan Le Fay played by Gilly Wilkins
Valerin the Vicious played by Dave Smith
Valerin’s Mum played by Sue Dashper
Zarlon played by Stuart Wineberg
Garlon (an invisible giant) played by Andrew Lockley-Boyd (we did see him at the end of the panto behind a giant’s head mounted on some wood. That would not have been the easiest thing to manoeuvre. For most of the panto we “saw” Garlon move thanks to movements behind the stage curtain).
Talking Clock played by Andrew Lockley-Boyd (and not your average talking clock either. It was very pointed in its comments to the Dame, Laughalot, and Teddy when they were trying to find Guinevere who’d been kidnapped by Zarlon, Garlon, and Valerin under the instructions of Morgan Le Fay. The Dame and her company had found somewhere to stay but it was the kind of creepy place Scooby Doo would have run away from. In a pantomime, of course, our goodies here had no idea the place was dodgy though it was blatantly obvious to the audience).
Goodies
King Uther played by Geoff Dodsworth
Laughalot played by Angharad Warren
Prince Arthur played by Mya Paulson
Guinevere played by Lucie Stranack
Nell (Guinevere’s maid) played by Izzy Apperley
Connie Clatterbottom – The Dame – played by Dave Wilkins. (As ever the costume, the wig and the make up were of the gaudy variety and rightly so. The Dame isn’t meant to be subtle).
Teddy played by James Leppan
Merlin played by John Puzey. Poor old Merlin is feeling his age a bit and Morgan Le Fay despises him for not being as competent as he once was but can Merlin prove her wrong and help save the day here? Merlin, incidentally, is obsessed with finding a youth restoration spell which is why we go on to see a younger version of himself too.
Young Merlin played by Thea Dunbar
Head – played by Kadi Dyer (literally a head appearing in Merlin’s lab – reminded me of odd things like this appearing in those old TV shows The Munsters, The Addams Family etc)
Dave the Snake played by Lydia Shaw (she was an excellent puppeteer and Dave was another member of Merlin’s lab).
Adult Chorus
Janatius played by Jos Pieda
Thitis played by Anne Colling
Appleton played by Sian Hayden
Croatia played by Lesley James
(These four also formed part of Morgan Le Fay’s sisterhood of witches).
Knight 1 was played by Lisa Barfoot
Knight 2 was played by Karol Cooper
(Not the bravest knights ever seen, it has to be said).
Junior Chorus
Lydia Shaw, Kadi Dyer and Thea Dunbar.
Director: Terry James
Production Assistants: Marilyn Dunbar and Merle Dodsworth
Notice it refers to Prince Arthur so the time scale is set before the legends we know (and it is thought the earliest mention of King Arthur was in Welsh poetry dating to either the 5th or 6th centuries – a while ago, then!).
Key Ingredients to a Successful Pantomime
I think the chief one is lots of laughs and Camelot The Pantomime as performed by The Chameleons certainly delivered on that.
There has to be a happy ever after ending.
There have to be characters you can root for to have that happy ever after ending.
There have to be characters you are only too pleased to boo for. The louder the boos, the better the villain (well, that’s my experience of pantomime villains anyway).
So much make up (especially on the Dame) you could set up your own mini cosmetics business.
Jokes to include local references wherever possible. The Monks Brook had a couple of mentions as did the dark side of Boyatt Wood! Oh and a curse about having roadworks on the M3…. Someone delivered on that curse I think. (You could throw in the temporary lights at Bournemouth Road as a curse of its own by the way).
A good storyline – there still has to be at least a two act structure. The first act sets up the story and the problems the hero/heroine faces. The second act shows them overcoming this (often with help from a good magical character) and then on to the happy ever after ending.
At least one reference to something or someone in the public eye (and it often is both). This time there was a mention to The Traitors when the Dame tried to claim she was a faithful when she was spying on the witches led by Morgan Le Fay. The Dame’s idea didn’t work and she was easily spotted for the “traitor” she was.
Wonderful sound and lighting effects against a cheery brightly coloured set. Pantomimes are wonderful acts of theatre but they’re not the place for gloom and doom. Thank goodness for that too.
Songs the audience can join in with.
Running gag(s) throughout the show. My favourite here was Terry James, dressed in a workman’s brown coat, who every so often would wheel on a huge Round Table which is a wedding present from Guinevere to Prince Arthur. Every time he went on, the cast would say “Not now, Terry”. I loved this because I thought it was a direct nod to the fabulous Morecambe and Wise who always said “Not now Arthur” to their Arthur who wanted to play the harmonica on their show. He never did. And Terry James only got to leave the Round Table at the end after getting a member of the audience to sign for it after the show itself was over! This running gag was especially funny given the director of Camelot the Pantomime was Terry James! (Could this be the very definition of sending yourself up here?).
The Dame can have a sidekick. Here it was Teddy Bear. I felt sorry for James Leppan in this outfit. It must’ve been very hot in there.
Review
As ever, The Chameleons worked so hard to deliver an entertaining pantomime with so many laughs. It was clear the audience had a wonderful time. On a dark January night, after a horrible week with Storm Chandra wreaking havoc, this show proved to be a tonic. Above all, Camelot was fun. (Not much of that in the news right now, is there?). If you’ve never seen a Chameleons pantomime, you’re missing a treat. They are well worth putting in your diary.
Naturally Prince Arthur and Guinevere did marry, happily, as did Nell with LaughaLot. I also loved the way Merlin, while not getting his youth back, did get his competence back by giving Morgan Le Fay an ultimatum to either renounce her magical wicked ways or die because he managed to give her a parchment which at first sight had nothing on it. When he told her to look again (and again came the sound of magical bells), the paper revealed Merlin had cursed Morgan so she either had to give up or die. Oh and she had to make up her mind about it quickly too.
No prizes for guessing what she chose to do and Merlin proved to not be so incompetent after all.
Conclusion
I left the pantomime feeling cheered, having enjoyed a lovely evening being entertained by a great story well delivered. A story meant to be fun was fun. You always get the feeling The Chameleons themselves are enjoying their pantomimes and that does come through to the audience.
Now normally at this point, I’d flag up their next show but all I can tell you is it will be in May and they’re not revealing the title yet. Am looking forward to finding out more in due course.
But do get yourself to one of their shows when you can. It makes for an excellent evening’s entertainment (and you never know, you may come up trumps in their legendary raffle too!).
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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