All Aboard A Magic Carpet to Pantoland This January
The evil Abanazar knows of a magical lamp, containing a wish granting Genie, which will make him the most powerful sorcerer in Pantoland. Laundry boy Aladdin is the only person who knows the cave where the lamp is buried, so when Abanazar tricks Aladdin to find it for him he thinks all his prayers have been answered, but things don’t go exactly to plan.
It was lovely to see a full audience at Leiston Film Theatre enjoying a traditional afternoon’s entertainment with this family panto. Packed with gags old and new this was a colourful, vibrant show written and directed by the talented Wayne Burns who also led the comedy as Widow Twanky. Wayne is an experienced performer and this showed with his banter with the audience and presence on stage. Another performer with great comic timing is Lauren Major as Wishee Washee who forms a fun partnership with Widow Twanky.
Aladdin ( Toby Young) and Princess Jasmine ( Sky Henson) make a cute couple as the romantic leads and Abanazar (Patrick Norman) is a convincing baddie who get the crowd booing well. In contrast The Genie of the Ring ( Noleen Skudder) is a bright and bubbly narrator who got us all to cheer when she came on.
More comedy was provided by Princess Jasmine’s parents the Emperor (Marcus Ward), the Empress ( Vici Hadfield) and PC Ping Pong (Mandy Baskett) and completing the cast was the Genie of the Lamp (Grace Clutterbuck) who pops up in purple and puts everything right for our heroes.
There were songs and dances aplenty, The Chloe Kinrade School of Dance, providing the colourful chorus dancers and it was lovely to have some live music with talented local musician Tom Horton accompanying the cast.
This is such an enthusiastic group who always put on a lively and popular show for the local community, something that was highlighted in the interval when the 3 people in front of us buying refreshments bought tickets for next year!
So don’t miss the ball – Cinderella for 2025 is already on sale 17th – 19th January – times and prices vary – find out more online on their website or call the box office on 01728 830549
SUFFOLK THEATRE 