Pinocchio
– Chipperfield Theatre Group
A naughty puppet boy, a cricket in a suit, and a fox
were just some of the unlikely characters to make an appearance in the
Chipperfield Theatre Group’s annual pantomime. But despite being an unusual and
rather lengthy choice, Pinocchio included all the requisite trimmings of a
village family show.
With its long cast of characters and medley of musical
numbers, the performance took a while to get off the ground in the first half,
especially as we saw no sign of Pinocchio’s nose lengthening.
Pinocchio’s ‘father’, Gepetto, played by Joe Heusen,
was -suitably kind and bumbling, and stumbled over his word perhaps too often.
And he would have been more endearing without the Italian accent.
Another accent misnomer was going on in the character
of The Coachman, played by Simon Phillips. Moving from American to west
country, and then cockney, the villain seemed unsure of how he ought to sound,
drastically reducing his fear inducing capabilities.
Anne Pinkus’s Pinocchio was both cheeky and charming.
Her small androgynous frame lent itself well to the role of a puppet boy and
she managed to portray a fitting chirpy and inquisitive spirit throughout.
Cricket was my favourite character, and from his first
appearance really stole the show. Played by Wendy East with true gusto, Cricket
was the perfect caricature. And despite those tongue twisting lines spoken in
an American accent that actually worked, not a single word was jumbled.
After a glass of wine and a packet of crisps we were
ready for part two, having already undergone seven scenes, and were pleasantly
surprised by the fantastic choreography and wonderful costumes of Funland. Cart
wheeling acrobats and a miniature dancing bear navigated the stage, and a
wonderful masked mannequin dance made the whole sequence very tight.
Chipperfield Village Hall proved to be a fine, cosy
venue with good stage lighting facilities. The set did its job, consisting of
naturalistic flats depicting Gepetto’s puppet workshop and a painted landscape.
But the effect could have been more striking with a simpler, more
representational layout.
Yvonne Gavan –