ACT Reviews 2022-2023 Season

The cast was a little smaller than usual, ten in total who took on the evils of the Ice Queen. In the icy role Louise McCarthy was every inch the villainous pantomime villain. Her side-kick, Frostbite, creepily portrayed by Chris Mullowney, earned his hisses and boos as he addressed his Queen, “Yes, your coldness”. The pair of them nicely whipped up the audience. To fight evil there has to be Good and for this pantomime goodness was the Spirit of Christmas. Taylor Pilkington, as the Spirit, took on the horrible Queen and triumphantly won the fight between good v bad. All good panto stuff! Bernard Holding played the kindly old gentleman with white hair, beard, and red coat convincingly; maybe a little padding round the waist would have completed the image. Santa’s workshops of Elves were much enjoyed by the younger members of the audience. Brian “Hello, Everyone” Elf became our best friend: everyone reacted to his requests. Susan Hilton knew how to engage with the audience and how to keep them on board. Then there was boy and girlfriend Elf, Eddie (Josh Thomas) and Ice Ickle (Chloe Swain), they both contributed to the merry jinks of pantomime. Finally there was the comedy duo of Emma and Eva Elf played by Lisa Gavin and Chloe Hedgecock. To bring them on stage every time a purple parcel was seen when the audience had to shout out. All the Elves mishaps and confusion were full of pantomime humour: their “mop routine” was well executed and was well received. Miss Ickle Ice’s mum was like the Dick Emery character, Hetti, looking for a man. Cathie Davey playfully played the pantomime vamp who gets Santa to “man-up” and marry her. This was an entertaining evening and a great start to the festive pantomime season.