Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, 16 December 2003

WHETHER YOU are very young, or purely young at heart, this year’s Christmas Panto at Eden Court will not fail to delight.  The fourth Eden Court production by Director David Burrows and his team is family entertainment at its best.

Holly and Laura Martin

My family and I attended on the evening of my daughter Holly’s fourth birthday, and her excitement level was high, so I quietly hoped that this production of ‘Jack’ would live up to her expectations, especially as I knew the story to be one of her favourites.  I needn’t have worried!

From the opening sequence, Holly was visibly captivated. The cast were terrific, and each brought something special to the show.  Graham Dalton shone as Jack, and Gail Watson as his love interest (when did this happen)? was equally vibrant.  Both had excellent singing voices.

Dame Mary (or Mary from the Dairy), played by Graham Crammond in his debut as a panto Dame, was hilarious and entertaining.  Another equally sparkling character was Arron Usher as Jack’s brother Silly Billy.  Tich McCooey from MFR along with Jonathan Fegan formed the duo of ‘Scarem and Harem’ – the evil giant’s henchmen.

It is nice to see a local star in the continuing panto appearance of Tich.  As we hear his voice on an almost daily basis we feel we know him as intimately as our own family! Although we do sometimes wonder – does this man ever sleep?  Also a native of Inverness, Ishbel Nicol as the fairy Sprite had great stage presence.  It was however, unanimously agreed by our group of 8 that the true star of the show was Gavin Kean, the evil Alderman Rancid.  He positively sizzled with evil charisma and had the audience eating out of his hand.

The sets were visually stunning and changes flowed seamlessly.  The music had everyone singing and bopping along and included everything from “The Cheeky Girls” to “It’s Raining Men”.  The highlight for me had to be the scenes involving the giant which were captivating, although some of the younger kids seemed a bit frightened.

The ending was traditionally uplifting and we all headed for our cars on a high.  My conversation with Holly on the way home went something like this:

Q: Did you enjoy the panto?
A:  Yeah mum, it was brilliant.

Q:  Who were your favourite characters?
A:  Jack – he was handsome like Dad (must check her purse for fivers). Jill was good too, and I liked Daisy the Cow.

Q:  What were your favourite bits?
A:  The bits with Daisy, the wedding (hope I didn’t give too much away) and the bits with the giant.

Q:  Were you scared of the Giant?
A:  Not really, well, his voice was a bit scary.
Q:  Did you like the music?
A:  Yeah, I wanted to go up on the stage and dance (a star in the making)?

Q:  Was it as good as your book?
A:  Better!

5 minutes later, she was fast asleep.

Jack and the Beanstalk runs at the Eden Court Theatre until Saturday 10 January 2003

© Laura and Holly Martin, 2003