By Sam Allen

This original script by Claire Knighton and Rob Spurway (who were respectively director and musical director) delighted the packed Wellesley Theatre crowd in Wellington with a plethora of witty gags, plenty of local references and all the usual traditional panto frolics with one or two original twists thrown in for good measure! Wellington Pantomime Group was celebrating fifty years of panto shenanigans this year and they did so in fine style with a rollicking show that was colourful, upbeat, and pacey from start to finish. There was plenty to delight the many children in the audience who giggled, screamed and yelled at the many visual thrills on display. Not only did we have a ghostly ‘behind you’ sequence, but we had real splosh-in-the-chops slapstick, an exploding vacuum cleaner, great pyrotechnics, and the most magnificent giant, Thundersnore, created by local lad Reuben Mills.
Jack in the Beanstalk is a pantomime classic and the plot followed the traditional storyline that audiences know and love. And, in best panto tradition, there was plenty of audience interaction as the accomplished performers encouraged booing, hissing, cheering, repeated responses and community singing. And one poor hapless chap drew the unwanted attention of Dame Gertie Trott, who teased him mercilessly all evening!
With a fine six-piece band in accompaniment, there were some vivacious ensemble musical numbers as well as some lovely singing from the principals and a few comedy musical vignettes for good measure! Colourful costumes and some splendid lighting made this a visual spectacle to remember. And, of course, we all delighted at Daisy the cow (could there have been any more dairy-related jokes?) and, in what must be a world first, a gander that laid a golden egg!!
Once again good battled evil and once again good prevailed. It wouldn’t be pantomime otherwise, would it? It’s been going on at Wellington for fifty splendid years and, on the strength of this show, it will be going on every year for fifty more to come! Well done, Wellington, on producing an anniversary performance that the hundreds of people who have been involved over the past fifty years would be proud of.
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