Michael Cornell’s dame, Gertrude Gander, making her point to Gemma McDonald’s Jack in Rowntree Players’ Mother Goose. Picture: Howard Ella
IN the words of director Howard Ella, Mother Goose is “the dame’s pantomime”. Boldly, he casts Michael Cornell in the role of Gertrude Gander in his dame debut after his Ugly Sister double act as Miranda to Jamie McKeller’s Cassandra in last winter’s Cinderella.
These are big boots to fill after the years of Graham Smith and, before that Barry Benson, father of Josh, comedy turn Muddles alongside Su Pollard’s Carabosse and Lee Mead’s Prince Lee in Darlington Hippodrome’s Sleeping Beauty this winter, should you be wondering.
Cornell’s dame is taller, younger, more elegant on initial impression, than his more rumbustious predecessors, his dame style still finding its feet and tone and his voice its pitch. Whether singing or talking, he shows off a wide vocal range, spectacularly so with his singing, full of operatic drama to go with his natural stage presence. He can carry a dress with aplomb too.
Ella likes an eggy pun and a political jab, also parading a meta-theatre awareness that Mother Goose is not exactly thick with plot by mentioning it brazenly, instead building his pantomime around set-pieces, bright-coloured characterisation and songs aplenty, both familiar and less so.
For those about to rock: Jamie McKeller’s guitar-wielding Demon Blackheart and Laura McKeller’s Bob Bingalong in Mother Goose. Picture: Howard Ella
A topical thread runs through the show’s core as Gertie comes to realise the folly of pursuing fame and fortune, after swapping scratching a living from her Wolds farm’s hen pens for the bright lights of Doncaster’s club scene. Doncaster?!
Meanwhile, co-writer and comic turn Gemma McDonald loves the sound of breaking wind, letting rip at every mention of dishy farmer Kev (principal boy Sara Howlett) being the King of Kale. Her daft lad Jack, with his Billy Bremner hair, strawberry cheeks and looning clown face, is as irrepressible as ever, bonding delightfully with Cornell’s Gertie, Jack mucking about at every opportunity when the dame is seeking to assert motherly authority.
Howlett’s farmer Kev is a classic principal boy, each slapping of a thigh being met with Kev being framed in a spotlight and breaking into a toothpaste-perfect smile. There is a pleasing self-awareness to this handsome performance, coupled with chemistry with Laura Castle’s ever-enthusiastic, humorous Jill, recalling their performance in John Godber’s Teechers Leavers ’22 at the JoRo in 2023.
Partnerships abound in Ella’s production, always a good resource for engendering humour, and key to this show are two such double acts: Cornell’s Gertie with American Abbey Follansbee’s Priscilla the Goose and Jamie and Laura McKeller, from the Deathly Dark Tour ghost walks, teaming up as the villainous Demon Darkheart and his deadpan sidekick Bob Bingalong.
Whisking up egg puns: Gemma McDonald’s Jack with Laura Castle’s Jill in Mother Goose
Follansbee has graduated from the Cinderella chorus line to being the golden egg-laying goose on the loose, American accent, big bustle, orange leggings et al, and she brings a song-and-dance flourish to Priscilla in tandem with Cornell.
The McKellers spend time aplenty on the dark side in their nocturnal version of a Deathly day job, but always delivered with more than a dash of humour, and that sense of dark comedy infuses both Jamie’s thespian, shock-haired Darkheart, debt collector and purveyor of the dark arts, and Laura’s dogsbody Bob, a Yorkshire spin on Tony Robinson’s Baldrick in Blackaddder, and no less full of dim suggestions. Laura reveals rather a fine singing voice too.
The principal cast is completed by Holly Smith’s Fairy Frittata with her flow of rhyming couplets and perennially perky interjections. Throughout, choreographer Ami Carter keeps principal dancers, senior chorus and junior teams busy with ensemble routines that fill the stage with more buzz than a beehive, while the animated James Robert Ball is a highly watchable, always engaged musical director.
He extracts fantastic musicianship from his players, who include fellow keyboardist Sam Johnson, whose outstanding musical arrangements are surely worthy of a professional production.
Holly Smith’s Fairy Frittata, left, Sara Howlett’s Kev, the King of Kale, Laura Castle’s Jill, Michael Cornell’s Gertrude Gander, Gemma McDonald’s Jack, Laura McKeller’s Bob Bingalong and Jamie McKeller’s Demon Darkheart in Rowntree Players’ Mother Goose
Out of view but deserving a sustained round of applause are Katie Maloney on reeds, James Lolley on trumpet, James Stockdale on trombone, Micky Moran on guitar, Georgia Johnson on bass and Joel Fergusson on drums. Lena Ella and her costume team deliver the goods as ever.
A quick mention too for a welcome innovation: last Saturday’s matinee was the first interpreted and captioned performance of a panto at the JoRo, presented with interpreter Dave Wycherley and captioner Margaret Hansard in collaboration with York charity Lollipop, Stage Text and ToylikeMe.
Likewise, touch tours for blind and visually impaired theatregoers were provided on Sunday and will be again tomorrow night (10/12/2024). Always a community show, these new additions make it all the more so.
Rowntree Players present Mother Goose at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm nightly, Tuesday to Saturday, plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Michael Cornell’s Gertrude Gander and Gemma McDonald’s Jack in Rowntree Players’ Mother Goose
LET the egg puns get cracking when Rowntree Players launch their rollicking romp of a 2024 pantomime, Mother Goose, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight.
The plot? Meet Jack (Gemma McDonald), head of hens at Chucklepatch Farm, with its newest addition to the coop, Priscilla the goose (American Abbey Follansbee). Joined by mum Gertrude Gander (alias Mother Goose, Michael Cornell) and his sister Jill (Laura Castle), they head out on their panto adventure.
Desperate for the showbiz life, Gertrude gives up the Wolds for the bright lights of Doncaster. However, ever-nasty landlord Demon Darkheart (Jamie McKeller, alias Deathly Dark Tour ghost walk host Dr Dorian Deathly) and his assistant Bob (Laura McKeller) will stop at nothing to collect rent, but dishy farmer Kev, the King of Kale (Sarah Howlett) and Fairy Frittata (Holly Smith) will not let the dark side rule.
Traditional casting, still with a female principal boy, combines with modernity in the Players’ panto. “We’ve gone down the fame and fortune route with Mother Goose; less judgemental on the look, more judgemental on the pursuit of fame and fortune, which is so much part of the modern age,” says director and co-writer Howard Ella.
“Pantomime keeps evolving as the national outlook changes and the politics change, ” says director and co-writer Howard Ella. “It’s that constant dynamic tension between tradition and relevance, and if you get it right, you have a very happy audience – but if you get it wrong, you can upset people.
“It’s not about being right-on; it’s about accessing each particular audience. You have to reach the broadest audience, and that constant challenge is what keeps our show fresh.”
After playing Ugly Sister Miranda to Jamie McKeller’s Cassandra in Cinderella last year, Michael Cornell steps into the dame’s boots vacated by long-serving Graham Smith, who chose not to audition this year.
On the dark side: Jamie McKeller’s Demon Darkheart and Laura McKeller’s Bob Bingalong in Mother Goose
“It’s a different set-up from Ugly Sister, doing it on his own as the dame,” says Howard. “The joy, the challenge, is that it’s Mother Goose; it’s the dame’s show, whereas Cinderella, for example, is essentially Buttons’ show.
“The fact that Michael is a triple threat – singer, actor, dancer, well, almost dancer! – means it’s a completely different take to Graham’s dame or Barry Benson’s dame before that. He knows it’s the dame’s show and that energy is a real buzz.
“There’s a point where the dame is out there for 30 pages, so she’s the glue, the engine behind the show.”
Abbey Follansbee graduates from the chorus line in Cinderella to play Priscilla the goose. That name? “She’s from the USA,” says Howard. “I don’t want to give too much away, other than to say she’s a tour de force as the goose.
“Mother Goose is fairly light on plot, so the challenge is how do you tell the story and how do you do the goose? “The plot takes you down a line and you just follow it; Abbey’s goose, Priscilla, just becomes livelier and livelier, and cheekier too, and yes, the goose will have an American accent!
“Leni [Ella] and Jackie [Holmes] have been working on the goose’s costume and they’ve created an amazing combo of dress and costume, with a big bustle, flying hat and goggles, so it’s impressionistic.”
Howard is joined for a third year in the writing team by the show’s regular clown-faced comic character, Gemma McDonald. “Gemma is as full of daftness and energy as ever. Where does she get all that energy from?! How she has this unbounding energy, as I get older and older by comparison, is unfathomable.
Laura Castle’s Jill, Michael Cornell’s Gertrude Gander and Gemma McDonald’s Jack in Mother Goose
“Each writing partnership is different, though I can’t let go of the steering wheel, but you need a bright mind to bounce ideas off, because there’s so much riffing in panto comedy,” he says. “Gemma’s enjoyment of the puerile absolutely counters my more sophisticated comic taste!
“I like a good pun; she likes a ripping fart gag, and you need both. The battle is keeping it fresh, and so much of that comes from the cast because our show has gradually revolved and resolved.”
The 2024 cast features not only Jamie McKeller, alias ghost tour host Dr Dorian Deathly, as the villainous Demon Darkheart, but also his partner in Deathly Dark Tours, Laura McKeller, as his deadpan assistant, Bob Bingalong.
“Playing the villain is Jamie’s natural space but he constantly works on freshening it up and bringing new things to it, developing it in rehearsals. Having Laura there by his side has brought another dynamic to it: a push-and-pull partnership.”
Howard draws attention to the bond of York Mix radio presenter Laura Castle’s Jill and Sara Howlett’s Kev, the King of Kale. “Laura is really good at what she does, with proper comedy bones. She and Sara really bonded in the John Godber play they did together [Teechers in March 2023], and you can feel that on stage, so we milk that chemistry of them knowing each other so well,” he says.
“Holly Smith, who plays Fairy Frittata, was in Shakers with Laura, so it’s like having all the alumni from Jamie McKeller’s Godber productions in this year’s panto. The cast are a real company with no ego, so rehearsals have been an absolute dream.”
The musical director is James Robert Ball, sparking up Sam Johnson’s arrangements to the max. “Sam’s arrangements are phenomenal,” says Howard. “When I find a song that I think will work in panto, I can say to him, ‘Can you ‘panto-fy it with cow bells or whatever?’.
Sara Howlett’s farmer Kev, the King of Kale, and Laura Castle’s Jill in Rowntree Players’ Mother Goose. “We milk the chemistry of them knowing each other so well,” says director Howard Ella
“James’s great talent is to get the ‘noise’ out of people when they perform. It’s amazing to watch. He’s one of the most gifted musicians I’ve met.”
Ami Carter provides the choreography once more. “Or ‘the long-suffering choreographer Ami Carter’, I should say, putting up with me interfering left, right and centre!” says Howard.
“Look at the strength of the team we’ve built up over the past 15 years. I might be the Pied Piper at the front, but this pantomime is the sum of all its parts.
“We also remain lucky that we have a workshop and prop store, and we’re very conscious that for a modern am-dram company to have those properties is really rare, enabling us to put on a pantomime as near to professional standards as possible, but, boy, does it rely on teamwork.”
Saturday’s opening matinee marks the launch of a new initiative by the Rowntree Players. “It will be our first-ever captioned and signed performance, spearheaded by Gemma [McDonald] and Abbey [Follansbee], with captions and signing on stage, all being done in conjunction with Lollipop [the York charity that offers opportunities for children and young people with any degree of deafness from mild to profound and their families to meet and build friendships with others].
“We will also have touch tours for blind and visually impaired theatregoers, with an audio introduction to give them a description of the sets and costumes, on Sunday and Tuesday. This is a big step for us and for the Joseph Rowntree Theatre too, and we’re delighted to be doing it.”
Rowntree Players in Mother Goose, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 7 to 14.Performances: today, 2pm (limited ticket availability) and 7.30pm (limited); Sunday, 2pm (last few tickets) and 6pm (limited); December 10, 7.30pm (limited); December 11, 7.30pm (limited), December 12 (last few tickets); December 13, 7.30pm (limited); December 14, 2pm (sold out) and 7.30pm (last few tickets). Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Holly Smith’s Fairy Frittata, left, Sara Howlett’s Kev, the King of Kale, Laura Castle’s Jill, Michael Cornell’s Gertrude Gander, Gemma McDonald’s Jack, Laura McKeller’s Bob Bingalong and Jamie McKeller’s Demon Darkheart in Rowntree Players’ Mother Goose
Jamie McKeller’s Cassandra, Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Fairy Carabosse and Michael Cornell’s Miranda performing I Know Him So Well in Rowntree Players’ Cinderella. Picturee: Angela Shaw, York Camera Club
UNLIKE Cinders, you will not go to the ball…unless you have acquired a ticket already. Cinderella has sold out, reward for the ever-rising pantomime pizzazz of Howard Ella’s community capers.
Cinderella may be the most popular of all pantos, but it is the most difficult to write, he contends, on account of the need to fit in so much. “The story is so loved, so full of plot points and favourite moments, it’s very hard to put your own spin on things,” Ella says in the programme notes.
Then add “the breaking of panto norms”: the dame making way for two Ugly Sisters, baddies rather than goodies to boot. Regular dame Graham Smith decided to take a year’s sabbatical, and in his stead comes the new double act of Jamie McKeller, last winter’s Sheriff of Nottingham, re-booted as Cassandra, and Michael Cornell as Miranda, both shaving off their beards but still with a hint of stubble to go with their trouble-making in matching costumes.
Gemma McDonald: Even busier as co-writer as well as show-steering Buttons in Cinderella. Picture: Angela Shaw, York Camera Club
They know each other from bygone days, and they work in step as pleasingly as Layton and Nikita’s Strictly Charleston last Saturday.
Typically spot-on casting by Ella, who has a new writing partner by his side too in Gemma McDonald, the Players’ long-serving daft lass with the auburn bubble-perm clown’s hair and rouge cheeks.
Still on delightfully dimwit duty as Buttons, she carries the heaviest comedy load as usual, leading the slapstick shenanigans in tandem with the Ugly Sisters in the hotel spa, breaking down the fourth wall to bond with the audience, ragging them when they are too slow to respond.
Ella suggests that Buttons is “really the story lead”, and McDonald’s ever-energetic, ever-cheeky performance backs that up.
Sara Howlett’s Cinderella and Laura Castle’s wave-wanding Fairy Flo in Cinderella
The writers were keen to avoid the danger of Cinderella’s traditional story feeling dated while wanting to be respectful to tradition too: hence Prince Charming and Dandini still being played by women, on the one hand, but Barry Johnson’s Baron Hardup owning the rundown Hotel Windy End (cue bottom burp gags from Buttons and corrections on the pronunciation), on the updated other.
This is very much a Yorkshire Cinderella, playing to its York setting at every opportunity. Radio presenter Laura Castle, so impressive in John Godber’s Teechers at the JoRo in March, makes for a feisty, no-nonsense Fairy Flo, while Teechers’ co-star Sophie Bullivant brings personality to the often dry role of Dandini, especially enjoying her switch with Hannah King’s thigh-slapping Prince Charming.
King’s singing is as strong as ever, not least in partnership with Sara Howlett’s resolute Cinderella in the ensemble number Omigod (a splendid lift from Legally Blonde The Musical). Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Fairy Carabosse takes the singing honours, first in It’s All About Me, then in Three Evil Dames with McKeller and Cornell.
Fill that stage! Rowntree Players in an ensemble routine from Cinderella. Note the pun-named plumber on the backdrop. Picture: Angela Shaw, York Camera Club
Johnson’s Baron, Geoff Walker’s lackey Flunkit and Jeanette Hunter’s Queen of Hearts, the Prince’s mother, bring bags of experience and panto panache to these support roles; Bernie Calpin completes a trinity of fairies, and Ami Carter’s exuberant choreography finds the principal dancers, senior chorus and young teams in boisterous form.
Highlights? Cinderella’s transformation scene with Fairy Flo, unicorn-powered carriage et al, is a picture indeed, and what better way to open Act Two than with McDonald leading the show’s best ensemble routine, Flash Bang Wallop What A Picture, followed by Cinderella, Prince Charming and the ensemble revelling in Shut Up And Dance. The hits keep coming with Fairy Carabosse, Cassandra and Miranda sending up I Know Him So Well.
Ella gained Tommy Cannon’s permission to reprise a Cannon & Ball slapstick classic, as Cinderella, Cassandra and Miranda push, pull and drag each other off a wall while striving to sing a romantic ballad. Howlett, McKeller and Cornell look exhausted from all their exertions, the audience cheers rising with each tussle.
Spot the difference: Jamie McKeller’s Cassandra and Michael Cornell’s Miranda in matching costumes as things turn Ugly for the shopaholic sisters in Rowntree Players’ Cinderella. Picture: Angela Shaw, York Camera Club
The costume team of coordinator Leni Ella, Andrea Dillon, Jackie Holmes and Claire Newbald adds fun and flair to the finery, while set designers Howard Ella, Anna Jones, Paul Mantle and Lee Smith turn their hands to all manner of scenes with aplomb.
Musical director James Robert Ball’s band fires up pop hits and musical favourites alike with dynamic delivery, aided by fellow keyboard player Jessica Viner providing the musical orchestrations with her customary zest.
Difficult to write? Maybe, but Ella and McDonald’s setpiece-driven Cinderella is a joyous, riotous start to the York pantomime season.
Performances: 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee, all sold out. Box office for returns only: 01904 501935.
Travelling by unicorn: Sara Howlett’s Cinderella, aboard her carriage, heads for Prince Charming’s ball
Laura Castle’s Fairy Flo, left, Gemma McDonald’s Buttons, Hannah King’s Prince Charming, Sara Howlett’s Cinderella, Jamie McKeller’s Cassandra, Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Wicked Queen and Michael Cornell’s Miranda in Rowntree Players’ Cinderella
ROWNTREE Players are heading for a sold-out pantomime run of Cinderella with only ‘limited availability’ or ‘last few tickets’ notices for each performance.
Co-written by regular writer-director Howard Ella and delightfully daft comedy dipstick Gemma McDonald in a new creative partnership, this rollicking panto romp will run from Saturday to December 16 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York.
“When we launched our panto tickets in August, we had record-breaking sales on the first day,” says Gemma, who will be playing Buttons. “We sold the equivalent of a whole show within the first two days and they’ve just kept on selling.”
“I’ve been learning from the best,” she says of her experience of teaming up with Howard on script duties. “It’s hard work to get a script right, and you don’t realise the processes you have to go through to achieve that until you face them.”
Howard says: “For me, that awareness comes from doing repertory panto all those years ago in Harrogate when it was a traditional family show,” he says. “Writing a panto now, I want to keep the innocence for children but with those cheeky double entendres for parents and adults in the audience.
“How do you do that in 2023, keeping it relevant and challenging without it being too challenging, because you do have to get the balance right between being challenging and getting bums on seats? That’s not an easy line to tread, but we’ve managed to do it.
Picture this: Rowntree Players’ pantomime cast members face the camera in the rehearsal room
“Not forgetting that by making our panto profitable, we support Rowntree Players’ ability to put on plays each year that are challenging, rather than just doing the same old plays, and we’re proud to follow that fading principle in theatre.
“We’ve pretty much doubled our audiences over the past 12 years, and hopefully that’s down to the quality and wide appeal of our pantos, but you can never rest on your laurels, and we all know that the York panto landscape has changed over the past few years [with veteran dame Berwick Kaler’s transfer to the Grand Opera House and Evolution Productions teaming up with York Theatre Royal].”
Howard notes how York theatregoers are very supportive of community and amateur productions. “People go to all see all sorts of groups putting on all sorts of shows, which feels like a really healthy eco-system,” he says.
“For Rowntree Players, we’re lucky to have a theatre like the Rowntree Theatre with a decent capacity and good stage facilities, so we have a professional structure for staging shows, building a relationship with the theatre where we can push ourselves to the limit with the support of the theatre and all those volunteers who make it so special.”
Gemma adds: “Over the years, we’ve built a diverse team with diverse skills to run our panto, who work so hard together, such as our engineer Lee Smith, who has welding skills to help us to design things like a magic carpet rig, which everyone else would hire in. We couldn’t do that, but with Lee, we can make things, and so our imagination grows as to what we can do.”
Cinderella has proved “the most difficult” of Howard’s pantomimes for him to write. “Coming from York and having watched Berwick Kaler’s pantos, we all like to mess with the plot, but Cinderella has so many plot points you have to cover, and culturally accepted norms you have to cover, that when you try to have fun with it, there’s not much room to do that when you have to get all that in.
Howard Ella: Rowntree Players’ pantomime director and co-writer
“In pantomime, the easiest comedy flows between the dame and the comic, but in Cinderella it’s harder to work out where the humour flows when the dame is replaced by two baddies, the Ugly Sisters. It’s the most demanding of all pantomime writing experiences but when you get there, it’s the most rewarding.”
Regular dame Graham Smith is taking a year out, and instead Ugly Sisters Cassandra and Miranda will be a partnership of last year’s villain, Jamie McKellar, alias York ghost-walk guide and spookologist Dr Dorian Deathly, and Michael Cornell. “They know each other of old,” says Howard. “That’s not why they’ve been cast together, but it clearly helped in the auditions.
“When we learned that Jamie, who’s a very experienced actor, was properly up for playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in Babes In The Wood last year, we were delighted. Panto is fun to do but it’s hard work too, where you can break the fourth wall as the villain, but you can’t be too funny, and he was clearly right for the role.
“This year it will be different again, as Graham wanted a year out, and we’ll see Jamie in a new guise as Ugly Sister.”
Sara Howlett’s Cinderella, Hannah King’s Prince Charming, Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Wicked Queen and Jeanette Hunter’s Queen of Hearts need no introduction to Rowntree Players panto regulars.
Graham Smith’s Dame Harmony Humperdinck and Gemma McDonald’s Kurt Jester in 2022’s Babes In The Wood. Graham is taking a year’s break from panto; Gemma is adding co-writing duties to her familiar role as comic in Cinderella
Look out too for Sophie Bullivant and radio presenter Laura Castle, such a hit together in Rowntree Players’ March production of John Godber’s Teechers, now playing Dandini and Fairy Flo respectively.
“What’s interesting is that everyone read the script in a way I hadn’t thought of at the first readthrough, which really shook the script up and made me look at it in a different way,” says Howard of a show also featuring 12 numbers under James Robert Ball’s musical direction and a dozen dance routines choreographed by Ami Carter.
“We’re conscious that we have a regular gang in the panto but that we always have to make sure to give others an opportunity, both in the ensemble and with two Ugly Sisters giving us an ‘extra dame’ this year, it’s been the perfect opportunity to open it up,” says Howard.
“If you just work with familiar relationships within the cast, it can make you lazy, so having new faces makes you up your game, particularly when directing.”
Gemma concludes: “We have a mixture of old and new faces in the cast this year, which is really nice,” says Gemma. “It’s a really strong ensemble and that’s exactly what Cinderella needs.”
Rowntree Players present Cinderella, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 9 to 16, except December 11. Performances: December 9, 2pm and 7.30pm; December 10, 2pm and 6pm; December 12 to 15, 7.30pm; December 16, 2pm (sold out) and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 501395 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Rowntree Players pantomime players in rehearsal for Cinderella
Who is in Rowntree Players’ principal cast for Cinderella?
Cinderella: Sara Howlett
Buttons:Gemma McDonald
Baron Hardup: Barry Johnson
Wicked Queen: Marie-Louise Surgenor
Cassandra:Jamie McKeller
Miranda:Michael Cornell
Fairy Flo: Laura Castle
Queen of Hearts: Jeanette Hunter
Prince Charming: Hannah King
Dandini: Sophie Bullivant
Flunkit: Geoff Walker
Head Fairy – Bernie Calpin
Production team
Director: Howard Ella
Choreographer: Ami Carter
Musical director: James Robert Ball
Writers: Howard Ella and Gemma McDonald
Shoe-in for success: Rowntree Players’ poster for Cinderella, heading for full houses
Classrooom comedy: Sara Howlett, left, Laura Castle and Sophie Bullivant in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ production of John Godber’s Teechers Leavers ’22
ACTOR, voiceover artist, filmmaker, tour guide, pantomime villain and York ghost-walk host Jamie McKeller is turning his hand to directing.
More precisely, he is reacquainting himself with the director’s seat after a 15-year hiatus, at the helm of former teacher John Godber’s 2022 update of Teechers, his state-of-education play originally commissioned by Hull Truck Theatre for £100 in 1984.
Why now, Jamie? “I did the Rowntree Players’ pantomime last Christmas [playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in Babes In The Wood] and had a great time. Afterwards, Howard [Ella, the director] said, ‘we’re doing Teechers next’, and I thought, ‘Ooh, it’s been a while since I directed, I fancy doing that’. So, I pitched for it, and later that week the committee said yes.”
Jamie’s production of Teechers Leavers ’22 opens at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, on Thursday with an all-female cast – YorkMix radio presenter Laura Castle as Gail, Joseph Rowntree School drama teacher Sophie Bullivant as Salty and Rowntree Players regular Sara Howlett as Hobby – in keeping with Godber’s revised version for Hull Truck Theatre’s 50th anniversary last year.
Gail-force: Laura Castle as Gail in Teechers Leavers ’22
In Godber’s play within a play, they adopt multiple roles as the trio of Year 11 school leavers put on a valedictory performance, inspired by their new drama teacher but hindered by myriad obstacles and classroom poltics that vex playwright and pupils alike.
Jamie is no stranger to fellow Yorkshireman Godber’s work, both on and off stage. “I’ve been in Bouncers twice, as Judd and Les, but I’m still too young for Lucky Eric, so there’s time yet for that,” says Scarborough-born Jamie, who is 42.
“I was Salty in Teechers and did Lucky Sods in 2004, and I’ve already directed Teechers once in Scarborough in 2003 and Bouncers once too.”
In fact, whether in his university days at Hull University from 1998 or when studying Performance: Theatre at York St John University from 2006 to 2008 or working his way through Terry Pratchett stories at the YMCA Theatre in Scarborough, when doing his BTEC in theatre, he has directed more than 20 productions.
Class act: Sara Howlett’s Hobby
“But it’s now been a long time since I last directed a play. Not counting my self-directed shows that I took to the Edinburgh Fringe for five years, the last one was Danny King’s The Pornographer Diaries in 2008, here in York at Friargate Theatre, but originally I always wanted to be a director more than an actor,” says Jamie.
“I’d like people to become aware of me as a director as I’d forgotten the passion I had for it, and it’s where I feel most at home, cooking up ridiculous visuals in my head – so working with these three actors has been an absolute dream.”
6ft tall Jamie is a familiar cloaked figure on the streets of York at night, in the guise of spookologist Doctor Dorian Deathly, ghost tour guide for the award-winning Deathly Dark Tours, but he has a posse of guides to call on, enabling him to take time away from his “night job”, whether to do panto last winter or be at the helm of Teechers.
His enthusiasm for play and cast alike is writ large. “What I really like about Godber is that he’s always prefaced his scripts by saying, ‘make it work for your cast, make it work for the times, because if you don’t update it, it will be a museum piece,” says Jamie.
Match play: Sophie Bullivant’s Salty
“We’re delighted to be doing the 2022 version, where we’ve kept the politics, but eased back on the Covid material, as we’ve lived through it, though it’s still there in the dialogue, but just not at the forefront.”
Godber’s impassioned belief in the importance of the arts in the curriculum hits home with Jamie, from past experience. “The resources at York St John were being shrunk all around me. The Chapel theatre was closed in 2006, just before I went there, to become a conference hall, and I ended up rehearsing my last play there in my garden and then staging it in the quad at York St John as a sort of protest. That struggle for facilities still resonates with me,” he says.
“I make my living out of performing, but after a ghost walk tour, I’ve been asked ‘what else do you? Don’t think you should have a proper job?’. There’s still that dismissive attitude towards creativity as an occupation.”
On a positive note, Jamie loves the musicality in Godber’s writing. “When you get it right, it’s almost like Shakespeare, where if you see it performed poorly it’s an unpleasant experience, but it can be wonderful. That’s the same with Godber, which is why we’ve done lots of work on the rhythm and tempo,” he says.
Jamie McKeller’s other fella: Teechers director in his guise as Doctor Dorian Deathly, spookologist and ghost-walk host
Selected from open auditions, Castle and Bullivant are making their Rowntree Players debuts alongside Sara Howlett. “We wanted to find three actors that would instantly gel,” says Jamie. “We weren’t looking for the greatest actors, but the best combination, and they turned out to be great actors too!
“Having these three together, they’ve definitely bonded and become friends as well, meeting outside rehearsals and running their lines. They really care about getting it right and doing it well.
“The way it’s written, it requires a heightened style of performance, where you need to fill it with physicality too – and they’ve really put in the hard work for such a physically demanding play where they never leave the stage.”
Rowntree Players in Teechers Leavers ’22, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 16 to 18, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
One question for John Godber
Playwright John Godber
What were the biggest changes/themes you had to include in this reimagined version of Teechers, John?
“OBVIOUSLY, the language has changed, teenagers now have a whole new vernacular which had to be incorporated to make the characters seem real and authentic.
“I also changed the drama teacher character from male to female. Quite simply this is because when I wrote the play, I based that character on myself and my experience as a drama teacher.
“But now I have two daughters – one of whom [Martha] is an actress, the other [Elizabeth] has a PHD in gender studies – so I thought it’d be interesting to make that character female. Also, and this may have just been a coincidence, but many of the teachers I spoke to were women, so it made sense to write it as a female role.
“The impact of the pandemic is also a big theme as I feel it put the whole education system – and its failings, especially for working-class students – under a microscope. Digital poverty is a huge issue now and students not being able to access the internet via a computer or phone during lockdown meant for many – they couldn’t access their education for a major portion of those two years.
“The repercussions of this are huge – isolation, loss of communication skills, diminishing attention spans. However, I truly believe that harnessing the power of storytelling – whether that’s through writing or acting – is a way of overcoming these problems, which is another reason the arts should be a priority now more than ever and why this particular story resonates so much still today.”
Double the fun: Graham Smith’s Dame Harmony Humperdinck and Gemma McDonald’s Kurt Jester in Babes In The Wood
Babes In The Wood, Rowntree Players, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight until Friday, 7.30pm (last few tickets for first three, limited availability for Friday); Saturday, 2pm (last few) and 7.30pm (limited). Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
HOWARD Ella reckons this is the best of the 13 Rowntree Players pantomimes under his writer-directorship. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he, but he does have a point. This is a case of 13th time, luckier still, for family audiences at the York community theatre.
For a start, Babes In The Wood is two shows for the price of one: weaving Robin Hood and his merry band, Sherwood Forest and the Sheriff into the fairy tale of those two poor orphans abandoned in woodland by their wicked uncle.
Don’t be hood-winked by the show title. It is rather more Robin’s story and characters that dominate,including distaff variations on a theme, while accommodating the misfortunes of Hansel (Henry Cullen/Fergus Green) and Gretel (Maddie Chalk/Ayda Mooney) in their Gingerbread House, cooked sweeter and cuter than in the dark fable of yore.
Now, Robin (Hannah King) takes on not only a rescue mission to free Maid Marion (Marie-Louise Surgenor) from the tower and the clutches of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Jamie McKeller) and sidekick Will Snatchell (Joe Marucci), but also vows to find Hansel and Gretel.
Double the trouble: Joe Marucci’s Will Snatchell and Jamie McKeller’s Sheriff of Nottingham
For Friar Tuck, read Freya Tuck (Meg Badrick), and so on through the Merry Band of Alana Dale (Keelie Newbold) Georgie Green (Erin Willis), Jill Scarlett (Mollie Surgenor/Eva Howe) and Little Joan (Libby Roe/Charla Banks).
Put them together with King’s traditional, thigh-slapping yet somehow girl-power principal boy Robin Hood and suddenly they are aping SIX The Musical in Six, a musical number that makes great play of the sisterhood buzz musical of the decade (already booked in for June 27 to July 2 return to the Grand Opera House next summer, by the way).
Musicals are a running theme to the song-and-dance numbers in Ella and musical director Jessica Viner fast-moving show, from the opening Hairspray ensemble routine (Good Morning Sherwood Town) to Dirty Rotten’s echo of Something Rotten.
Best of all is Musical, all singing, all dancing and all seven minutes of it, led by Gemma McDonald’s cheeky, chipper, cartoonesque Kurt Jester, who lost her voice at Friday’s dress rehearsal but thankfully called on Doctor Theatre to see her through two shows on Saturday.
Howard Ella: Rowntree Players’ pantomime writer-director
The comic (bubble-haired McDonald) and the dame (Graham Smith’s slightly grumpy but lovable ‘Humpy’, alias Dame Harmony Humperdinck) are no longer chained to working in the Sheriff’s castle, but freelance travelling actors instead.
One is the greatest Shakespearean actor of her age, with an ego to match; the other is a comic extraordinaire in the daft jester tradition. Both have a licence to be loose cannons and pretty much run the show in their unruly way.
King’s Robin and Surgenor’s Maid Marion deliver a knockout Without Love in the tower by the No Exit sign, after Marion knocks back Robin’s demand to do a Rapunzel with her hair, whereupon Robin recourses to a ladder entry through the open window. Physical comedy in the classic English tradition.
Ella loves a pun, a political dig (for example, “Party?”. Correction: “Work gathering”) and partnerships too: not only the regular double act of Smith & McDonald and principal boy and girl King and Surgenor, but also a new combination of McKeller and Marucci, actors with previous form for Rowntree Players, but now venturing into the dark side, albeit to self-delusional comic effect as the topically tax-hiking Sheriff and the dimwitted, snatch-all Snatchell.
Hannah King’s Robin Hood and Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Maid Marion
McKeller is particularly inspired casting. Now making his name on the streets of York as ghostwalk host Doctor Dorian Deathly, he returns to his former stamping ground to make a big imprint with his gleefully dastardly Sheriff, eyebrows arched, voice arch, stage walk swaggering. “There’s still a touch of showbiz lurking behind the venom,” as Ella puts it and he’s spot on.
The comic and the dame nail the slapstick sludge scene; Viner’s musical band are as merry as Robin’s band; the senior chorus and young Blue/Red Team (Red on Saturday night) lap up every ensemble scene, and Ami Carter’s choreography is all dash, nothing slapdash.
Ella and his fellow set designers Paul Mantle and scenic artist Anna Jones have excelled too for the tower and forest alike. Andrea Dillon and Claire Newbold have fun with the costumes, for the pink-fixated dame as ever, but doubly so for the Merry Band in the Six pastiche.
You will love the all-action songsheet number too in a production that comes with genuine icing on the cake: a snow-topped roof from a past panto now repurposed to the dame’s mocking as the Gingerbread House.
Knocked for Six: The Merry Band mirroring SIX The Musical in Babes In The Wood
Hannah King’s Robin Hood in Rowntree Players’ Babes In The Wood
ROWNTREE Players’ rollicking romp of a pantomime, Babes In The Wood, will roll two shows into one at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from December 3 to 10.
Let writer-director Howard Ella explain: “We’re combining the stories of Robin Hood and Babes In The Wood. Two tales in one means there’s a lot for me to play with.
“Our beautifully hand-crafted panto promises fun from start to finish with traditional characters intertwined with a modern twist. There’ll be lots of fun for the whole family with the traditional slapstick routines, audience participation and of course, a love story: everything you would expect and want from a pantomime.”
Hannah King’s Robin Hood and Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Maid Marion
Facing the challenge of writing a new panto script for each winter, Howard says: “It takes a lot of head scratching to keep an element of freshness and originality around the traditional stories and the old – but lovingly recycled – jokes.
“The constant drive and annual re-invigoration come from bringing a talented and enthusiastic team together on and off stage.”
As always, Rowntree Players promise adventurous showstopper dance numbers to “have you dancing until Christmas”, having produced dazzling routines over the years showcasing York’s dancing talent.
Cast members in rehearsal for a dance routine in Babes In The Wood
Choreographer Ami Carter says: “It’s hard to pick just one number to be my favourite routine, because there are always moments from all the routines over the years that stick out in my mind – usually because it was a crazy idea that ended up working out really well – such as making a ship from people in Sinbad or having a troupe of dancers emerge from a fireplace in Cinderella.
“So far this year, I think my favourite is ‘Musical’, simply because I love the effect of all those musical references happening one after the other. The audience are in for a real treat with this seven-minute number.”
Howard has chosen very ambitious numbers for this year’s cast to sing, but that comes naturally for newly married musical director Jessica Viner (nee Douglas), who is a regular MD on York’s musical theatre circuit and also teaches and inspires the city’s next generation of musicians.
Double act at the ready: Graham Smith’s Dame Harmony Humperdinck and Gemma McDonald’s Kurt Jester
“I’m super-fortunate that my hobby and job are all rolled up into one as a freelance MD and pit musician,” she says. “As part of that, I teach at York Stage School and I’m also a peripatetic instrumental teacher at a school in Harrogate.”
For Babes In The Wood, Rowntree Players will be utilising a nine-piece band. “They are all so talented, so audiences are in for a real treat,” says Jessica.
Hannah King’s Robin Hood will be joined by a Merry Band of Meg Badrick, Keelie Newbold, Erin Willis, Charla Banks, Libby Roe, Mollie Surgenor and Eva Howe as they take on Jamie McKeller’s Sheriff of Nottingham and his all-too-regular tax hikes with his sidekick, Joe Marucci’s Will Snatchall.
Piling on the pain: Jamie McKeller’s Sheriff of Nottingham, right, and his sidekick in tax-hiking evil, Joe Marucci’s Will Snatchall
Adding to the merriment will be the familiar sight of Graham Smith’s Dame Harmony Humperdinck and Gemma McDonald’s Kurt Jester, entertainers extraordinaire who tour the land with their cabaret double act to help to save Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Maid Marion and the Babes in the Wood (Fergus Green, Ayda Mooney, Henry Cullen and Maddie Chalk).
The prospect of silly jokes, big musical numbers, slapstick and good old-fashioned family fun has led to tickets selling well already, prompting the advice to not delay in booking.
“It’s the perfect way to kick off Christmas,” says Howard. “Watch a show then go home and put up your tree. It’s what we all do.”
Rowntree Players in Babes In The Wood, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 3 to 10. Performances: December 3, 2pm (last few tickets) and 7.30pm; December 4, 2pm (limited availability) and 6pm; December 6 (limited), December 7 (limited), December 8 (last few); December 9, 7.30pm; December 10, 2pm (last few) and 7.30pm (limited). Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Babes In The Wood writer-director Howard Ella in the rehearsal room
CharlesHutchPress puts Rowntree Players writer-director Howard Ella in the pantomime spotlight ahead of Babes In The Wood’s first night
What makes Robin Hood and Babes In The Wood better for interweaving the two storylines, Howard?
“Robin Hood is a great, and ultimately, very traditional story. It’s very basic in its journey, and so being able to add some elements in the form of the Babes in the Wood helps broaden the story telling.
“It gives Robin heroic motivation that is broader than wooing Marion and, because it involves a younger cast, it opens up opportunities to take on larger roles. Of course, the original Hansel and Gretel story is incredibly dark, so I take a huge sidestep and some significant creative liberties!”
What will be the “new twists” you mentioned?
“There’s some twists this year in terms of casting choices and of course the plot goes off on tangents that aren’t wholly (or sometimes remotely) loyal to the initial storytelling. It’s not irreverence that drives that, but a push to keep things fresh and fun.
“Details on the twists? Well, no spoilers – you need to come and see the show – but as a taster, the Dame and comic this year no longer work in the Sheriff’s castle, but are travelling actors: Dame Harmony Humperdinck, the greatest Shakespearean actor of her age (and what an age!) and Kurt Jester, comic extraordinaire.”
What will be the fresh features of this pantomime?
“It’s not just originality in the set that lets us renew every season but also our approach to set design. We’re so lucky to be one of the few amateur companies in the country to have a full set-building store with engineers, carpenters and the most amazing scenic painter – all volunteers working year-round on our productions.
“This year, for the first time, all of our scenery, every single glittered gem of a piece, has been designed and made for us by that team. Add to that the amazing costumes our team pull together and we have a show that really is a dazzler.”
Jamie McKeller: Change of gear for actor and ghost tour host, swapping from Doctor Dorian Deathly’s haunted streets of York to spreading evil on the JoRo boards
How important is the elixir of panto right now, given the doom, gloom and financial strictures of the winter ahead and beyond?
“It’s hard to keep positive given the doom and gloom of the wider world and financial forecasts. Escapism, now and then, is an important rejuvenator in trying times. The magic of going to the theatre, specifically the elixir of panto, is such a good way to reboot together with friends and family, to laugh and tap your feet and be reminded of the positives there are in community, opportunity and good old fart gags!
“A night at the panto lasts far longer than two and a half hours. The kids will be talking about the characters for weeks, the adults will leave humming the tunes, and the dads will be recycling my handcrafted, yet ultimately silly jokes for years to come!”
What will be the big musical numbers in Babes In The Wood?
“There’s a phrase… ’Self indulgence is better than no indulgence at all’. Well, that’s certainly true about the choice of music in panto. Musical theatre is a great passion of mine and so panto is an opportunity to play with all my favourite show tunes and perform some fun pastiches of various shows.
“This year we tackle a seven minute-long beast of a number and the dame [Graham Smith] hits some dizzy heights in Act 2. We’ve got hints of Hairspray, Something Rotten, Gypsy, Wicked. It’s a real tour of showstoppers!”
How did you sign up Jamie McKeller, alias York ghost tour host Dorian Deathly, to play the villian?
“This year, as well as giving a lot of our younger company a chance to step into new roles, we have some exciting first-timers. The amazing Jamie McKeller and Joe Marucci have landed the roles of the Sheriff and his henchman respectively.
“Both are Rowntree Players alumni, having been in several plays over the years, but it’s a first foray into the ludicrous for both. It’s especially pleasing for us to have Jamie, aka Dorian Deathly, the award-winning York spookologist, playing it evil in panto. Although there’s still a touch of showbiz lurking behind the venom.”
Forest tomfoolery: Gemma McDonald’s Kurt Jester
Plenty of familiar faces are brought back together in the cast: Hannah King’s principal boy Robin Hood opposite Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Maid Marion; Graham Smith’s dame and Gemma McDonald’s daft lass. Audiences enjoy such partnerships….Discuss!
“Of course, along with new faces are some older ones. Some older than others! There’s a balance between keeping it fresh and building a winning team. Pantomime is one of those genres where audiences return and enjoy familiar faces and some annual in-jokes.
“Added to that is the relationships the cast members build. None is as important as that between ‘Dame’ and ‘Comic’. For us that is Graham and Gemma who, despite the rigorous audition process, have managed to be cast together for several years. That shorthand, trust, comic timing, audience understanding and ability to let a script ebb and flow is a vital backbone to a strong pantomime.”
What do you most enjoy about directing the Rowntree Players in pantomimes?
“Pantomime for everyone is a huge commitment and pretty all-consuming in the run-up to Christmas. For me, it’s become a year-long process of writing, casting, then going into pre-production, directing the show and overseeing the visual and technical elements.
“It’s a stretch to balance off against work in London and actually being at home sometimes, but it feeds the creative control freak in me.
“The process is so incredibly rewarding but there are two hugely satisfying elements. Firstly, I can invent whatever silly, nonsensical story, characters and scenarios I fancy and the team of talented, dedicated and, ultimately, incredibly patient volunteers bring it to life. We’re back to the self-indulgence thing.
“Secondly, and most importantly, we introduce a bunch of young people to the stage. Often from the age of nine or ten until they drift off into adulthood, we all get to share in their growth in confidence, talent and height and, I hope, skills they can use later on in life on or off the stage. Watching those performers get stronger every year is the ultimate reward.”
“Let’s remember what it feels like to come together to sing, to dance, to perform, to laugh,” enthuses Rowntree Players’ pantomime director, Howard Ella
FIRST came the announcement: “In the interests of everyone’s safety, please ensure masks are worn at all times”.
“Ensure”. Good word, that one, stopping all the wishee-washeeness that has prevailed so far, when there is a new variant in town.
Major London theatres are making masks compulsory (for all but children); York theatres really should be singing from the same panto song-sheet too. Anything that helps to keeps theatres open is not an unreasonable request to make.
Hannah King’s Dick Whittington and the ensemble in Rowntree Players’ Dick Whittington
Rant over. If masks are one emblem of pantomime-in-pandemic times, it is comforting to have familiarity too. Look at the sign in Rowntree Theatre’s London street scene: Ivor Leak, Plumber. Ho, ho.
Or look at the cubs and brownies filling row after row at the JoRo, bouncing up and down on their seats on a Monday night. It was ever thus at this community show.
“Let’s make the most of it and remember what it feels like to come together to sing, to dance, to perform, to laugh,” says director Howard Ella in his programme notes. How right he is.
Belting performance: Ellie Watson’s Alice Fitzwarren
Perish the thought that any theatre should ever rehash an old pantomime script – no names, no pack drill – but Rowntree Players have every right to revisit Ella and regular co-writer Andy Welch’s Dick Whittington, last year’s cancelled panto. Now it is the equivalent of a Christmas pudding becoming all the richer for having had to be put back in the larder for a year.
Hannah King’s resourceful, sprightly Dick Whittington and the ensemble set the tone with the opening Here I Am, establishing the Yorkshireman abroad in London Town vibe, grappling with a strange place of rhyming slang and “Oy, oy, Saveloy”.
Ami Carter’s choreography is superb throughout, knitting principal actors, principal dancers and the young team together so assuredly, and she hits her stride early in Money, marking Martyn Hunter’s return to the Rowntree panto ranks as mayoral candidate and rodent villain King Rat as he leads this irresistible number from Cabaret with panache.
In the pit: Musical director Jessica Douglas, centre, and guitarist Georgia Johnson
The song-and-dance list will go on to draw heavily on musicals, some well-known, some rather less so (Love Is Your Legs, from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, for example), but all well chosen and delivered with musical-theatre oomph by musical director Jessica Douglas’s band.
Pantomimes need to combine the tried and tested with the fresh, and here Ella’s regular trouble-making comedy double act of Graham Smith’s saucy, head-strong, sometimes brusque dame, Dora Di Sorderlie, and Gemma McDonald’s daft, accident-prone, lovable, ginger-nutted Duncan Di Sorderlie, must play hapless security guards at Alderman Fitzwarren’s bank.
Their verbal interplay is always a joy, their physical slapstick peaking as they are drenched in coins, but to be pernickety, on occasion they could pick up the pace a tad, especially in the long first half.
Rat-a-tat-tat: Martyn Hunter’s King Rat and Mary-Louise Surgenor’s Ratatouille in a musical number in Dick Whittington
One stretched-out discussion between Hunter’s King Rat and Mary-Louise Surgenor’s sidekick Ratatouille had the cubs and brownies fidgeting, but otherwise this is a second partnership of highly experienced principals that clicks, albeit Hunter could have had a more poisonous bite to his ratty demeanour.
Company stalwart Geoff Walker’s Alderman Fitzwarren is suitably avuncular and the show’s knockout vocal award goes to singing teacher Ellie Watson for a belting My Hero in the role of Alice Fitzwarren.
Bernie Calpin’s sassy Kit the Cat is an unusually chatty moggie and all the better for it, when so often Dick’s companion merely meows.
Gemma McDonald’s Duncan Di Sorderlie and Mary-Louise Surgenor’s Daisy duetting on Love Is Your Legs
Adding to the pleasure are the uncredited set designs, and even more so the costumes, especially for Smith’s dame (look out for the Chocolate Whip!).
Smith relishes one joke in particular. When McDonald’s Duncan talks of “not making a scene” after losing a job as a set builder, the dame waspishly adds: “Unlike someone”. Who could Graham possibly mean?!
Rowntree Players present Dick Whittington at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until December 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Saturday. Ticket availability: tonight and Friday, widest choice; Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday night, limited; Saturday matinee, last few. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Shocking pink: Graham Smith in saucy mode as Dame Dora Di Sorderlie
Rowntree Players’ principal cast members: Gemma McDonald’s Duncan, left, Hannah King’s Dick Whittington, Ellie Watson’s Alice Fitzwarren, Graham Smith’s Dame Dora and Martyn Hunter’s King Rat
DICK Whittington had to turn round and rest up for a year when Rowntree Players’ 2020 show was cancelled by Covid.
Now, however, Dick and his cat will be on the road from York to London from Saturday (4/12/2021), when the Players take to the Joseph Rowntree Theatre stage with director Howard Ella and co-writer Andy Welch’s pantomime.
Joining Hannah King’s Dick Whittington in the cast will be Graham Smith’s Dame Dora; Gemma McDonald’s Duncan; Martyn Hunter’s King Rat; Marie-Louise Surgenor’s Ratatouille; Geoff Walker’s Alderman Fitzwarren; Ellie Watson’s Alice Fitzwarren and Bernie Calpin’s Kit The Cat.
Howard and Andy first wrote the script remotely, via a satellite link, before the 2020 show was called off. “Socially distanced writing – that was a challenge,” says Howard. “I work away a lot so there had always been an element of remote collaboration, but this was full on.
“What was missing was the ability to read and act as we wrote without a satellite delay. That one-second delay kills humour stone dead, so there was a lot of writing on instinct. Then we had to shelve the script. Totally gutting.”
Roll on a year and out came the script again. “What was great was to lift it out a year later, read it with fresh eyes and still enjoy it,” says Howard. “What’s most strange is that it really demonstrated the stasis we have been in. It still felt relevant, if only because so much of our world of Covid and politics did not change.
“Of course, once we start blocking with the cast, then the gags change and everyone throws in their bit.”
Comedy writing as a duo, in the tradition of Galton & Simpson and Le Frenais & Clement, works well for the Players’ pantos. “I’ve written on my own and with both Barry [former dame Barry Benson] and Andy on different panto years,” says Howard.
“It’s exciting as you can bounce off each other and try things out before anyone else ever sees the script. The trick in making that writing partnership work is honesty and trust. When you don’t find something funny, when it’s not quite good enough, you have to say so and in a clear way.
Hannah King’s Dick Whittington is ready to set off from York to London in Rowntree Players’ Dick Whittington
“If you’re on the other end of the criticism, that’s where the trust kicks in. You trust you partner’s judgement and screw up the page. Sometimes tough, but you have to see it as collaboration, not compromise.”
This year’s cast is down in size by a couple of principals. “But that was story driven,” reasons Howard. “We wrote the script in early 2020 assuming Covid would drift past, so, in reality, there’s no compromises there. The script has the cast it always needed.
“That said, our chorus numbers are slightly lower to facilitate sensible spacing in dressing rooms and to deal with the [pandemic-enforced] practicalities, like not being able to share costumes between teams.”
Adapting to Covid restrictions has created extra challenges both in rehearsal and at the JoRo theatre. “We’ve had mask wearing and sanitising and spacing where we can,” says Howard.
“Everyone has been on different testing regimes through work and school, and they have been ever changing. Also, there’s double jabs where possible (and some of us oldies are boosted too!)
“What’s great is that the Joseph Rowntree Theatre is aligned with all the guidelines and so we’ve worked together, more than ever, to make it as safe as possible for everyone, both backstage and in the audience.
“But in reality we’re in the lap of the gods. From here on in, we put on a great show and hope that we all stay healthy. Otherwise, I’ll be picking up a script and donning a frock!”
As the first night approaches, what’s the mood in the camp? “Excited isn’t the word! We have missed the community aspect so much – and you only realise the strength of bond between the Rowntree Players company when it hasn’t been there and we all get back together.
“Stepping into the theatre on Sunday for the get-in, seeing all those familiar, yet strangely masked, faces was a delight. We haven’t done this for two years but it’s all come flooding back.
Rowntree Players’ Gemma McDonald, Hannah King, Ellie Watson, Martyn Hunter and Graham Smith dress in pantomime character on a day out at Murton Park, the Yorkshire Museum of Farming, near York
“In the company, we have a lot of returning cast and chorus, which has really helped us to short-cut through both Covid and a slightly curtailed rehearsal period because we slotted in Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web in September, having delayed that production three times.
“Martyn Hunter has returned to the panto fold after a few years away and he’s done so with gusto, as has Bernie Calpin as Kit the Cat.”
Balancing work commitments with rehearsals, Howard is delighted to be bringing Dick Whittington to the stage. “At its heart, Dick Whittington has traditional pantomime roots. That’s what I love. We try and make every pantomime relevant, recognise how the world is changing and represent it in our own way.
“But underneath all good pantomimes is a tale of right and wrong with a love story in the background and the freedom to be silly in between.
“I’ve also always liked the reminder that nowhere’s streets are paved with gold and that generally you have to work hard and you get out what you put in,” he says, “channelling his inner Yorkshireman”.
Saturday’s opening show will be emotional for cast and audience alike, given the sense of community at the core of all the Players’ work. “Everything we do at Rowntree Players aims to be inclusive of anyone who wants to take part,” says Howard, who is presenting Dick Whittington in tandem with choreographer Ami Carter, musical director Jess Douglas and production manager Helen Woodall.
“There’s a real commitment, there’s a pride in being involved with such an old society returning to the theatre where they started.
“The joy for any audience comes from the cast and their joy in being part of a production. We get so much pleasure from our hobby, we laugh an enormous amount, and I think that enjoyment flows over the pit and into the auditorium in everything we do.”
Rowntree Players present Dick Whittington at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, December 4 to 11. Performances: 7.30pm, except Sunday; 2pm matinees, Saturday, Sunday and next Saturday. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Jake Botterell as Oliver Costello in Rowntree Players’ modern-day account of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web
Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web, Rowntree Players, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm, 7.30pm tomorrow. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk
AGATHA Christie wrote Spider’s Web at the request of its star turn, Margaret Lockwood, during West End rehearsals for Witness For The Prosecution.
Now, director Howard Ella has “re-written” Christie’s 1954 murder mystery for Rowntree Players’ return to the stage after the pandemic hiatus.
More accurately, he has updated Christie’s manor-house setting of Copplestone Court to 2021, with cultural references to Harry Syles, Daniel Radcliffe and the local Aldi, a Nike bag and trainers for dodgy Oliver Costello and a photographic portrait of lady of the house Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, rather than an austere oil painting.
At the same time, a butler in formal attire, a rather old-school child with hair clips, a protective guardian, an eccentric gardener and games of bridge evoke the earlier era, while Graham Smith’s Hugo Birch appears to be dressed for a shooting party.
There are worse crimes – often in a Christie story – than tampering with a text, and Ella’s decision is born as much out of necessity as in the spirit of fun that pervades Agatha’s second most-performed play.
Ella’s production ends up with a foot in both camps, rather than in no man’s land, as do his cast’s accents, but the dialogue stubbornly betrays its Fifties’ roots, like that tell-tale tramline of black in bleached blonde hair.
In the absence of programme notes and indeed a programme – another concession to Covid times, with only a cast list available – Ella explained his reasoning afterwards in response to a late-night CharlesHutchPress email question: “Was there a reason for the modern setting? Was it to do with costume non-availability after the Rowntree Players’ store fire?”
Martyn Hunter’s permanently concerned guardian, Sir Rowland Delahaye
“It was less about the store fire but more about Covid and costumes and control,” Ella responded. “Both from a costume and a propping point of view. Very dull but a necessary evil in these times.
“It actually was a decision when we thought we could perform in early 2021. But it pushed and pushed.
“I like the idea of playing it contemporary, although, of course, the challenge sits in balancing that against how faithful you should be to the original dialogue.”
So that clears that up. Now, to the play, wherein diplomat’s wife Clarissa (Gemma McDonald) is spinning tales of adventure and stepdaughter Pippa (Katelyn Banks) is permanently hungry and restless but tired.
Guardian Sir Rowland Delahaye (Martyn Hunter), fellow old sport Hugo Birch (Smith) and young buck Jeremy Warrender (Andrew Roberts) are passing the time, trying to identity different glasses of port in a taste test, waiting for dinner at the nearby golf club, although Warrender looks strangely interested in trying locate a drawer in the desk.
Craig Kirby’s sonorous, stone-faced butler, Elgin, is doing what impenetrable butlers used to do; Jeannette Hunter’s perky, if mysterious, Mildred Peake keeps traipsing in from the garden.
Clarissa’s husband, the something-hush-hush-at-the-Foreign-Office Henry (Rory Mulvihill), has to pop out to a meeting. In pops Jake Botterell’s malevolent Oliver Costello, up to no good with a vow to take Pippa away to her flaky mother.
Spinning stories like a spider’s web: Gemma McDonald’s Clarissa Hailsham-Brown
Suddenly, there’s murder on the drawing-room floor, but whodunit and how does far-fetched fantasist Clarissa cover it up? Desperate to dispose of the body before Henry arrives with a very important politician, she enlists the help/hindrance of her house guests .
Enter the detective, in this particular case Mark McDonald’s heavily-bearded, somewhat heavy-handed Inspector Lord, a wry, if blunter, instrument of interrogation than Christie’s Poirot, assisted by the frank Constable Jones (Sara Howlett, lovely Welsh accent et al).
Christie revels in a “conscious parody of the detective thriller”, leavening all the familiar tropes with knowing humour, while still tightening the suspense ever tauter, albeit over a long stretch of nearly three hours, replete with dropped clues and plot contrivances aplenty.
Add drug addiction, ham sandwiches, invisible ink, a very valuable rare stamp, a secret drawer, a hidden doorway and an unusual corner-turn for a second stage entrance, and Ella oversees a spirited production full of heightened drama, humorous confrontations and murky mystery.
Hunter, Mulvihill, Smith and Kirby are the ballast; Hunter is comedy gold; McDonald and Howlett form a resourceful double act; Roberts could have escaped from a Noel Coward comedy, and the menacing Botterell and precocious Banks bring freshness to the Players’ ranks.
In the lead role, Gemma McDonald’s Clarissa is full of fun and games, but has a few hiccups with her mountain of intricately-spun lines that hopefully will not repeat on her tonight and tomorrow.
Suffused with surprises, some new to Christie’s story, this modern-day yet retro Spider’s Web makes for an enjoyable evening’s entanglement.
