Sleeping Beauty and the Pirates
St Mary’s Church, Old Basing

HOW fortunate the villagers of Old Basing are to be able to involve well over 100 individuals in their pantomime, presented by The Friends of St Mary's Church, Old Basing.

With such a large cast both front and backstage, I hope I will be forgiven for not mentioning each member of this most enthusiastic group of thespians.

The crew of the Good Ship “Lollipop” were a kindly lot, led by Pirate Captain Alan Turton and aided and abetted by “pirate” Hicken and his splendid chorus, whose Drunken Sailor opened the proceedings.

A splendid contrast was achieved between the “good” and “wicked” fairies by Nina Gregory and Rosemary Kershaw, each gaining approval and disapproval, respectively, from the enthusiastic audience, who packed the hall.

We all enjoyed the antics of “Trinny and Susannah” duo Jeff Owen and Sylvia Dark. What a pity they were not used more throughout the performance as the continuity girls, thus avoiding the occasional pregnant pause.

The Bienvenue Belles were excellent value for money, beautifully co-ordinated and not a hair out of place! So too were the fairies, from St Mary’s Junior School, who floated on and off stage with effortless ease.

Ermintrude the Cow expressed sufficient dairy products from her udders to supply the village stores, but we must blame Mark Offord and Max Deadman for this.

Lindsey Nugent was both charming as a princess and convincing as a pirate. Vicky McCauley as the French maid, Yvette, and the sweet duet of the good fairies Eve Hackett and Madeleine Sakakini made brief but charming contributions and, once again, the music direction was in the very capable hands of Paul and Marilyn Wright.

The show was directed by Rowena Hackett, produced by Jackie Deadman, and the scenery and costumes were produced by Sue Offord and Julie Pither, respectively.

This fundraising event ended with a fitting tribute to their highly respected founder, the late Betty Holmes, MBE, who played such an enormous part in the life of this very energetic village.

I recently saw a performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden – minus the pirates – and, for my part, having paid just one tenth of the ticket price for Covent Garden, the Old Basing show was very good value for money.

–David Ogborn