Sleeping Beauty, Gala Theatre

Dec 10 2007 by Debbie Ward, Evening Chronicle

SLEEPING BEAUTY, Gala Theatre, Durham City, until Sunday, January 6.

IT MUST be 25 years since I was last at a pantomime but I can still remember those panto traditions... “He’s behind you!”, “Oh, no he isn’t!”, a good old audience-participated sing-along, and always a panto dame, a dashing hero, beautiful heroine and, the kids’ favourite, the joker everyone laughs at and feels sorry for all at the same time.And it’s good to see things haven’t changed – at least they haven’t at Durham’s Gala Theatre, where Sleeping Beauty is this year’s Christmas offering.Featuring Crystal Fairy (Maureen Nolan), Prince Gallant (Mike Holoway), and Cuthbert the Court Jester (Pee Wee Price), the Gala’s show didn’t disappoint.You know the story – the wicked fairy, Carabosse, lays a curse on the newborn Princess Briar Rose that says on her 18th birthday she shall prick her finger on a spindle and die. But the good fairy then casts a spell that decrees the princess shall not die, but sleep for 100 years, to be woken by the kiss of a handsome prince.The Gala’s fairytale also features a huge dragon (which served to TERRIFY the kids – it was great), a Geordie king and Show Me The Way To Durham City, written to the tune of Amarillo. Pee Wee Price got the whole audience singing and clapping along.The cast and dancers did a great job, with good songs and a solid script – funnyman Price, apparently a regular on the Durham panto scene, fetched plenty of laughs with his schoolboy humour and improvised quips, and the two fairies had the audience cheering and booing right on cue.Worthy of a mention for their performances are panto dame George Kelly, who played the funny old Queen Hilda, and wicked fairy Joanne Heywood, who excelled in her vampy evilness.Lisa Marie Bowman played a suitably demure Princess Briar Rose, Paul Hartley won affection in his role as King Humphrey, and Mike Holoway was an ideal prince.I can’t finish without mentioning the well-choreographed dancers, who hail from the Rita Proctor and the Joanne Banks companies – they brought colour and enthusiasm to every scene in which they featured.Well-directed and well-performed, and with excellent scene changes, the only thing that let the production down was the occasional radio-mic blip, during which the actors had to speak a little louder, but it didn’t really spoil the enjoyment for this old panto fan, or her two-year-old son, who sat entranced for the whole two hours without any squirming (almost). A happy ending for all.

For tickets and information, call the box office on (0191) 332 4041 or visit www.galadurham.co.uk