Canterbury Christ Church University gets a sprinkle of magic with
its rags to riches pantomime, Cinderella. This student led pantomime was written and
directed by Andrew Parker whose
entertainment company, Bigfoot Productions, was behind this traditional
adaptation of the classic story. Parker says “It was interesting working alongside
a purely student cast and crew. It created its own issues unique to the
situation such as working round so many different timetables and the dispersal
of everybody for the Christmas break. While I also had to take time out for a
professional Pantomime myself.” We follow Cinderella on the journey to
find her happy ending away from her Evil Step Mother and Ugly Sisters. Main
actress Patricia Bajakova stepped into the title role with ease as she
captivated the audience with a rendition of the Whitney Huston classic One
Moment in Time. The music played a vital role in this
performance as it kept the audience glued and their spirits at a high. Well
known tunes such as Pharrell Williams Happy, I Am the Music Man and Bruno Mars’ I
Think I want to marry you were all heard and clapped along to. Traditional panto character Buttons made
an appearance in the form of Performing Arts Student Glenn Siggins. Buttons was
a hit with the younger members of the audience even though most of his jokes
went over their heads. His interaction with other characters was a recurring
theme and added a witty comedic element thanks to the script.The Ugly Sisters Porsche and Mercedes
added so welcome comedic relief to some of the less energetic scenes which
wouldn’t have worked without them. Third year students Jamie Sims and Karl
Ladler created a great connection on stage and also managed to stay upright
despite the heels they were wearing. One thing that did falter with this show
was the lack of set. At times the stage looked bear with one or two actor’s
present but this was handled well by the actors and lighting team. The star of the show for us was Stacey Etherington
in the role of The Fairy Godmother. Even though the character wasn’t seen a lot
we loved the actresses presence on stage and interaction with the audience. Every good pantomime needs a villain and
this adaptation of Cinderella was no different. Professional actress Karol
Steele took on the role of the Wicked Stepmother with ease and sophistication.
Her performance was comedic and captivating which had us looking forward to
every appearance she made. The costumes for this show were amazing
and easily one of the high lights for us. Strange La Boo designed and created
all the costumes to an incredibly high standard which enabled them shine and
captivate audiences. The director would like to personally thank Strange La Boo
for all the hard work that went into the amazing costumes. Parker (Director) has a lot more plans in
the pipe work. When we spoke to him he said “My plan in the long term is to
write a complete set of traditional pantomime scripts to be available for pro
and amateur productions along with some more unusual pantomime stories as well.
I have a lot of professional work over the coming year including involvement on
a technical level with a brand new musical due to debut worldwide in the
university’s Anselm studio in the summer.” He was also very appreciative for all the
help and support he has had while undertaking this magical task. “I would like
to thank the cast, crew and audiences along with the events team. They
put so much work in to help make this production. I would also like to say a
special thanks to Adelaide and Karol who both joined the show less than 2 weeks
before opening night and did an amazing job! The Director, Cast and Crew would all like
to thank the Canterbury Christ Church Music and Performing
Arts Bursary Fund who
supported the production and gave them the small budget they had to work with.