Its panto time oh no its not oh yes it is
IT’S almost that time of year again. Not Christmas, no, but the next best thing – panto time in Castlebar.
Rehearsals have gone exceptionally well for this year’s production, The Little Mermaid, and as it’s the 30th anniversary of Castlebar Pantomime, the gang are pulling out all the stops to ensure it’s a truly spectacular event.
You’re probably very familiar with the story of the Little Mermaid - how she dreams to be on land after saving the life of the prince. In order to get her wish and exchange her tail for legs, she will have to give Ursula the enchantress something in return - her voice. Will it be worth it to be able to live on land with the handsome prince? Or will some other evil prevent the two from being together?
This production features all the usual characters. Under the sea we have Ariel, the mermaid (Tracy Hall), her father King Neptune (Esther Henry) and their good friend and confidant Oceania (Mairead Wilson), plus the eight-tentacle baddie Ursula (Pauline Leonard). On land we have the Royal Family of Queen Hypochondria (James Murray), King Marmaduke (John Morley), Prince Stefan (Danny Leonard), The Lord Chamberlain (Graham Walsh), the loyal servant Baldrick (Gary Wynne), and the loveable Queen’s maid/nurse Heidi (Mairead McDonnell). However, this version adds two extra baddies in the form of the Queen’s cousin Drucilla (Natasha Crouch) and her striking daughter Ingrid (Carmel Ryan).
With this year marking the 30th anniversary, the Castlebar Pantomime committee want to make this show one of the best ever. There will be a whole new dimension in the form of projected backdrops, brought about with the help of evenTech. This is a system used in all the West End shows and provides bigger, brighter and more detailed backdrops than ever before.
Get along to the Royal Theatre for one of the spectacular shows as you boo, hiss, scream, laugh, cry and sing along with all the fabulous chorus numbers.
The Little Mermaid runs from Thursday to Sunday, January 8 to 11, with shows nightly at 7.45 p.m. plus matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2.45 p.m. Tickets are on sale now through the Royal Theatre, Castlebar – for details, telephone 0818 300 000 or log on to www.theroyal.ie.
Panto chairperson Rowena Gillespie has been involved with pantomime in Castlebar for the past 27 years. The year she started – 1987, aged 11 - she went on stage nursing a broken arm and has been actively involved ever since.
Rowena first joined Castlebar panto with Jason Guthrie, who is the choreographer and back stage manager of this year’s production. She has only missed two productions when sitting her Inter and Leaving Cert exams.
The other committee members are Sharon Lavelle, director and secretary, and her co-director, Antoinette Starken, Justin Guthrie, treasurer, and committee members Sinead Finnigan, Pat Gannon and Elaine Loftus.
Rowena took up the story: “My first panto in 1987 was Aladdin and I broke my arm weeks before the show. I was devastated thinking I would have to leave it. But they were good enough to find me a part. I ended up being Abeniser’s assistant and I was on stage a lot more that I intended to be but I missed out on the dance scenes as I could not move with the broken arm.”
The panto costs €60,000 to stage each year. Says Rowena: “People have this perception we have a load of money. We don’t. We are lucky to have any money in our bank account at the start of the year.
“The people of Castlebar and surrounding areas are so good to us because from September to December we are out collecting, but we only have that short spell of time to raise funds. The public are very generous to us and have been over the years. But when we have 80 kids involved, mammies, daddies, aunts and uncles all want to see them on stage, so there’s great support there.”