![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dads.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Camelot-Ad-web-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Reprinted from Dorchester News\u00a0 February 2016<\/em><\/p>\nDid we enjoy ourselves? Oh yes we did.\u00a0Did we laugh out loud? \u00a0Most certainly.<\/p>\n
A good panto has the audience going out still smiling and in good spirits. And the audience was most certainly doing that after Camelot.<\/p>\n
Although not one of the classic pantos, which made me slightly nervous at first, author Ben Crocker is an accomplished writer of both traditional pantos and the more unusual, and this was a winner.<\/p>\n
But to set the scene with the scenery. How do you depict a castle, a haunted hotel, Merlin\u2019s chamber, and forests all in the Village Hall? The team, under director Keith The plot revolves around Arthur and Guinevere meeting for the first time for an arranged \u00a0marriage, \u00a0but \u00a0baddy, \u00a0Valerin \u00a0the<\/p>\n Vicious, also wants to marry Guinevere. To help him in his\u00a0quest he has a forged magic document that isn\u2019t really there, that has been conjured up by Morgan le Fay. The baddies are clearly lined up on one side, with Morgan le Fay, Valerin\u2019s mum, and two knights, one big and bad knight and the other, well, invisible, supporting Valerin. The goodies on the other side are Arthur, his father King Uther, and Merlin. \u00a0So \u00a0there was plenty to boo and cheer when either heroes or villains took to the stage. Then there were the comic turns of a mute Teddy and her minder Connie, the panto dame, who, together with Laughalot the jester and Nell, were able to play everything for laughs. Just as a panto should be.<\/p>\n Laughalot\u2019s \u00a0frail \u00a0nerves \u00a0meant\u00a0 Of course a riddle was set: how could Merlin go forward\u00a0whilst going backwards? This was resolved by old Merlin going back into young Merlin in a puff of smoke. Mike Selway, turned into a bold young Fraser Beland, who gave an assured performance in his first DADS production.<\/p>\n Another newcomer to DADS was Frae Elford, playing Guinevere. \u00a0As one of\u00a0the central plot characters there was less scope for playing this for laughs, but she gave a strong rendition of a princess who isn\u2019t sure she can really trust her husband-to-be after she catches him spying on her. Christine Jones, as Guinevere\u2019s maid, had scenes where she was able to give us laughs, as she played up to Laughalot, her beau. Christine has an ability to convey what she is thinking through her facial expressions and in this production that meant making good use of her comedy face.<\/p>\n Amongst the baddies, Rosemary Mills exuded evil, dressed in a marvellous black costume that you just knew had come straight from Hades. She was so evil you couldn\u2019t resist booing every time she came on. Johnny Cornelius\u2019s Valerin was ambition with a Black Country accent, so you knew he was never going to get the girl. He didn\u2019t came across quite as evil as Morgan le Fay, so his conversion at the end to the side of light was not as big a leap as it might have been. Ann Winslet\u2019s simpering mother, though, made me laugh from\u00a0the moment she first appeared.<\/p>\n Jim Levi was solid and dependable as King Uther, as the old king should be, and Rachel Winslet-Morris lit up the stage, playing a compelling and wonderfully likeable Arthur.<\/p>\n The haunted hotel bedroom scene, which was the heart of the fun and games, was well paced and had the audience in stitches. Getting three people into a bed that keeps disappearing and returning with a change of personnel is in itself quite some undertaking for a village \u00a0panto. \u00a0Behind \u00a0the \u00a0scenes \u00a0must\u00a0have been chaotic, but It usually looked to the audience to be the correct set of characters coming back on. But then in a panto it doesn\u2019t really matter.<\/p>\n The chorus worked hard, as they do in pantos, doubling up in several parts such as the talking clock, the dismembered head of Nilrem, a snake, and the bishop (inspired casting there), and seemed to \u00a0be \u00a0having \u00a0great\u00a0fun themselves as they moved between roles.<\/p>\n With eighteen people in the cast it must have been a big job directing them all. Keith and assistant director Sue Kitson managed to corral them all and, at least on the night I was there, got everyone on and off stage on cue, and managed to keep the pace up.<\/p>\n If I have to be picky about one thing, it\u00a0is that not being one of the classic pantos I thought it a bit short of the traditional \u2018behind yous\u2019 and \u2018oh yes he did, oh no he didn\u2019ts\u2019 to draw in the audience. But I can blame Ben Crocker for that, and it didn\u2019t stop us from leaving the Village Hall with big smiles on our faces.<\/p>\n Another successful and entertaining production from DADS.<\/p>\n Ian Brace<\/strong><\/p>\n Photographs courtesy of Simon Ratliff<\/p>\n Morgan Le Fay \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Rosemary Mills<\/p>\n Valerin the Vicious \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Johnny Cornelius<\/p>\n Valerin’s Mum \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ann Winslet<\/p>\n \u00a0King Uther \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jim Levi<\/p>\n Laughalot \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Mike Davies<\/p>\n Prince Arthur \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Rachel Winslet-Morris<\/p>\n Guinevere \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Frae Elsford<\/p>\n Nell (Guinevere’s maid) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Christine Jones<\/p>\n Connie Clatterbottom \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Mark Williams<\/p>\n Teddy \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jane Brooks<\/p>\n Merlin \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Mike Selway<\/p>\n Young Merlin \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Fraser Beland<\/p>\n Marlon \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Peter Collins<\/p>\n Nilrem, (Merlin’s alter ego) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Maxine Briscoe<\/p>\n Dave, the snake \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Voice of John Cornelius<\/p>\n Talking Clock \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Sue Booys<\/p>\n Plus Chorus and Courtiers appearing throughout \u00a0Sue Kitson, John Cornelius, Sue Booys, Edward Metcalf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Camelot the Panto Reprinted from Dorchester News\u00a0 February 2016 Did we enjoy ourselves? Oh yes we did.\u00a0Did we laugh out loud? \u00a0Most certainly. A good panto has the audience going out still smiling and in good spirits. And the audience was most certainly doing that after Camelot. Although not one of the classic pantos, which … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dads.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Russell, came up with in ingenious set with flaps that folded in and out to make different locations, and a screen that swivelled down on which forests were displayed with\u00a0computer trickery. And so we were able to move quickly, well fairly quickly, from scene to scene without hold ups in the action.<\/p>\n<\/a>that he needed succour from the audience whenever he was faced with a challenge, giving lots of \u00a0opportunity \u00a0for \u00a0the audience to shout: \u2018Be bold, be brave\u2019, \u00a0at \u00a0which \u00a0point Mike Davies\u2019s Laughalot miraculously \u00a0turned from \u00a0a quivering wreck into a man of steel.\u00a0 \u00a0You knew it was coming, but it was still funny every time it happened. \u00a0But isn\u2019t that the point of panto? Something familiar that you can \u00a0laugh \u00a0along \u00a0with \u00a0no matter \u00a0how \u00a0many \u00a0times \u00a0it happens.<\/p>\n<\/a>But as with any pantomime, the \u00a0role that links it all is the dame, or in this case Connie Clatterbottom, played by Mark Williams, with Jane Brooks as sidekick Teddy. Jane did not have a lot of lines \u2013 well none, as Teddy was mute, but gave us plenty of action. Mark\u2019s Connie was a sight to behold, with a version of a nurse\u2019s uniform supported by big boots. He commanded the stage and the sheer absurdity of the costume helped him to do that. He played Connie as a cross between Lily Savage and Eric Morecombe, which made it hugely enjoyable, and you looked forward to every scene he was in.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nCast<\/strong><\/h2>\n
In order of appearance<\/h3>\n