Hallamshire and Handsworth Theatre Company’s production of Rapunzel was a night to remember. This pantomime adaptation of Disney’s classic Tangled was colourful, rollicking and musical, a non-stop barrage of laughter and kooky characters.
With a live band accompaniment, the show, written by Tom Whalley, condensed songs from musicals and popular culture. These ranged from the recent internet sensation Where Is My Husband! By RAYE, a parody of Bikini Bottom Day from Spongebob The Musical, to other adapted songs that mostly fit the storyline. I would have liked to see a few less solos from Prince Ryder, played by Sam Widdowson: he had a great voice, but without the electric energy of the group the songs did drag a little. The band themselves were amazing, especially Stephen Jackson on drums and Rob Horscroft on keyboards. As Musical Director, too, Horscroft was a strong performer and he led the band excellently.
Not only were all the main characters great singers, but they all put on impressively energetic performances too. Sarah Buckley as Mother Gothel was a highlight, with a natural evil charm and some great songs. I also enjoyed Andrew Stansall as King Bouffant, and his varying hairstyles were very fun (the mullet was my favourite). Widdowson and his co-star Sara Ross and Rapunzel were both good performers, although I did find Rapunzel a little too high pitched and piercing sometimes. The child performers were very cute, and managed to do a decent job of following the dances along, as well as looking very sweet in their costumes. I was particularly impressed with Poppie Nicholson, who was a talented and confident dancer in every scene she appeared.
Their pantomime Dame, Fanny Follicle (played by Matthew Walker), was also great fun. A hairdresser, with her shop ‘Curl Up and Dye’ was a character they managed to get a huge amount of comedy out of. Fanny’s costumes were nothing less than magnificent thanks to Molly Limpets Theatrical Emporium, and the highlight of the entire show was her teapot hat. Her ‘Scouting For Boys’ outfit came a close second. It’s no surprise that Walker has been the resident Dame for the last 10 years: his performance was incredibly strong, and dealt very well with script mishaps and mistakes.
The lighting for the show worked very well thanks to TD Lighting, with the colour choices seeming purposeful and providing both drama and fun. The sound design by PM Productions was okay, but often actors were drowned out by Widdowson, who seemed to have his mic turned up to double everyone else’s, to a rather painfully loud volume. At other times, actors’ mics cut out while they were speaking, and the balance between the band and the singers could definitely have been improved as it was difficult to make out the words over the (very good) piano.
The plot was easy to follow, and the comedic scenes added by Dame Fanny Follicle and her son Pascal had the audience in tears of laughter. It was a well-directed piece by Matthew Walker and Jane Jefferson-Blythe, and the choreography by Hayley Wilbourne and Beth Cooke was effective and simple. Overall, this show was good fun and while I was not perhaps the target audience for all the jokes (a ‘gay’ character played only for laughs always just seems a little depressing to me), the audience had the time of their lives and I’m sure you will too.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
