Plenty of highs in Norbury's Jack and the Beanstalk

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THE NORBURY Theatre has provided people with the perfect opportunity to revisit some of the magic of the festive season with this year's pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk.

As in all good pantos, there was plenty of family fun and one of the stand-out elements of the show was the amount of audience interaction, with the cast members showing they could certainly ad-lib when they needed to and respond to shouts from the crowd.

Jenny Tranter performed well as Jenny Fleshcreep, as did Andy Brown as Timmy Trot and Paul Wood as the dame - the chemistry between those two led to many humorous moments.

The dance routines were good, as was the slapstick comedy, especially during the milking scenes with Daisy the cow and the decorating of the dame's bedroom.

But, the best scenes were in the second half in the giant's castle, which also provided the musical highlight - Master of the House.

Tam Weir, who had already put in a good performance as Corporal Polish, excelled as Giant Blackheart with that song and the moment when he asked his wife to get him some peeled boy scouts was particularly funny on Friday (January 11) as there were rows of scouts in the audience, leading to some good-natured heckling.

The way the giant met his demise was also very clever - having the audience roar with laughter.

Overall, this was an accomplished performance from an enthusiastic cast who you could tell were loving being on the stage.

The next performances run tonight (Saturday) on Thursday, next Friday, Saturday and Sunday (January 17, 18, 19 and 20) and the Thursday, Friday and Saturday after (January 24, 25 and 26).

There are performances each night at 7.30pm and matinees on the weekend days at 2.30pm.

For more, or to book tickets, visit www.norburytheatre.co.uk.

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