Today was the day we were all so excited about. This years panto!
Going to the panto has been a tradition that I was brought up with, my aunt would take me to see the panto every year, and as a lover of musicals and theatre shows it was not up for debate about keeping up the tradition.
2016 we moved from Sunderland to The Scottish Borders so we opted to see this years panto in The Maltings at Berwick upon Tweed, which is our closest theatre.
Gorgeous building, right in the centre of the town.
I made the boys up a goodie box of sweets to take with us, a bottle of water and off we went on the 20 minute car ride. The boys were really excited to see the show after I read some of the latest reviews to them the night before.
We had a bit of a faf on trying to get parked and ended up on the main street (Not unusual in Berwick fingers, crossed we can get a multistorey somewhere)!
We found our seats and then waited for the show to start. I have to say the seating is extremely cramped and could be uncomfortable for anyone with mobility issues, more suited to a comedy night set up, this could just be me being picky as I am used to the spectacular Sunderland Empire.
We were right in the middle of the front row so we had a perfect view of the whole performance. The show began and was filled with the usual characters such as Cinderella, Buttons, The prince, The King, The stepmother, the ugly step sisters, the fairy godmother and some rather talented young singers. I won't go into too much detail for anyone planning on going to see the show, but it was fantastic! The production was spot on, actors were all fantastic and involved the crowd as much as they could. The ugly sisters were fantastic although they did do a little soaking (I managed to miss this as i hid under my scarf!) Songs were brilliant and the whole show was faultless. I give a 5/5 for effort and performance so well done to everyone involved. The prince was extremely good interacting with the audience and for this kind of show it's always a plus. Lots of singing, lots of dancing and lots of fun for the whole family to enjoy.
The bad bits:
The seating was cramped.
Serving alcohol at a family show like this has always been a big no no for me, sorry. Rather loud women sitting next to my son who were drinking and this is just so off putting.
Other than these issues the whole experience was fantastic. I just wish they had more family shows throughout the year because we would definitely be regulars if they did.
Congratulations to everyone involved on a fantastic performance that you should all be very proud to be a part of.
The Cast
Jonathan Ritchie - Prince Reginald.
Euan McIver - Barbie Tartington
Mark Vevers - Star Tartington
Wendy Payn - Toxie Tartington
Ross Graham - Buttons
John Stenhouse - The King of Hearts
Georgia Fordyce - Cinderella