CHARD: Cool for CATS!

Little Boy Blue was full of familiar characters as he  had to foil the wicked Knave of Hearts and evil fairy Deadly Nightshade to protect the sheep and win the hand of Princess Bo Peep as his bride.

Old Mother Hubbard - a crazy dame with spindly legs - was played by Luke Marshall, the 2009 Dame of the Year for the Somerset region with Becky Hardy as her son and hero Boy Blue.

Many established members were in principal roles with a few new faces including Old King Cole and the Queen of Hearts played by Councillor Martin Wale and his wife Nanette .

The adult chorus and CATS Kittens were enthusiastic in their many disguises, singing and dancing with gusto and the award-winning band had their own special part this year.

The backdrops were fantastic and there was an extremely colourful black-light scene of an English country garden. The villains were suitably villainous and the good fairy Lavender a real charm. Comic duo, the Three and Four of Hearts, fell about the place with some excellent comic timing and, of course, everyone loved the pantomime cow. Duets between the principal characters were beautifully sung.

This was a great team effort, pulled off at the last minute after not all the cast being able to attend rehearsals together, leading to technical nightmares and production frustrations.

However it was certainly ‘alright on the night’ and everyone had a good time.

PICTURE: Fairy Lavender - Angie Davis

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