Community panto wows the crowds

Panto cast in Aladdin at the Sutton Academy Theatre which featured Jack Burrows as the Widow Twankey, Rosie Knight as Aladdin and the Genie played by Bob Lee.

He has now put on a much more advance adaptation of another panto favourite, Aladdin, which was performed at the school last week.

By ‘more advanced’ I mean that there were more detailed set pieces, costumes and routines, all woven into the magical tale.

The plot was fairly classical - Aladdin fights for the love of the princess Lilac.

He and his brother, Wishy-Washy, join the army of the sorcerer who then tricks them, locking them in a dark hole until they find the genie.

They become rich and overthrow the evil sorcerer only after he again tricks them out of the lamp.

The singing and dancing were what you would expect from a pantomime, with outstanding vocals from all of the cast and an impressive tap dancing routine thrown in for good measure.

The main thing about a pantomime though is the fun factor and the script was packed full of so many jokes that you nearly didn’t have time to get your breath back!

Aladdin was performed with confidence by Rosie Knight, and from an energetic cast, the star performance was Bob Lee as the genie. Bob performed with such a charisma that the audience were in stitches.

Jack Burrows had the role of Widow Twankey and, despite a hoarse throat, performed with elegance.

The main thing I noticed though was how much all of the children enjoyed it. It was an all-round success for all of the family - a piece of good fun that managed to entertain old and young and finished on the note ‘you can do anything if you want to’.

The panto was a real community effort with children from primary schools, Sutton Community Academy, learners with learning difficulties, staff from the Academy, people from the martial arts club all performing in it.

Learners from the Adult and Community Learning dress making class had created the costumes, the beauty class did the make up, photography students took the photos and the construction department made the scenery.

Aladdin played to a full house again tonight and tomorrow.

Review by Jim Gibson, teacher at Sutton Community Academy in literacy and numeracy.