He's behind you!!!By Gilbert Nockles
“Oh no he’s not” ... “Oh yes he is”.
Where do you go in December to see villagers, beans, clouds, spooks and a stunning talented cast?
If you are lucky to have a ticket you head off to Ballinger to join an audience of excited children aged from one to a hundred to see the panto.
Jack and the Beanstalk was a wonderful production with many old hands but also new talent.
A successful production requires not just talent in front of the footlights but an enormous team of stars in the stage crew, engineers, costume designers, scenery builders and others if it is to be ‘alright on the night’.
Alright it certainly was and some have said absolutely brilliant. At one point the brilliant stage set made you feel you were in the clouds.
Lynda and Mike Moran have produced the panto for 16 years and it is now firmly established in our community life.
I spoke with Mike and asked him about the most challenging and satisfying aspects of the production. He told me about the logistics of getting everyone together for rehearsals, building the stage scenery, designing and making the costumes and so the list went on...
All the effort, though, is worthwhile when you see the look of delight on people’s faces when the production comes together.
It is a great community effort and all who make it happen are to be congratulated. The cast gets so immersed in their stage personae that I need reminding about what Dame Trott, Wonder Woman and the Fairy do in real life?