Cley panto cast member: Princess Amelia (Emily Youngs), Queen of Hearts (Di Garner), Mother Hubbard (Eileen Wright), Miss Prim (Wendy Tully), Professor Weasly (Graham Lewis), front row Mary (Chloe Green), Toby the dog (Anne Pegg).

Mother Hubbard and The King’s Pantaloons

Cley Village Hall

Take Goldilocks and The Three Bears, Mrs. Hubbard, Toby the dog, a village policeman and the King and Queen of Hearts.

Add in a “baddy” Professor Weasely, his lovelorn assistant Miss Frobisher (Keri Clarke) and a half-witted cross dressing Boris (or was it Doris), splendidly hammed up by John Roebuck.

Then mix in with some well-known songs and just the right level of audience participation and you have all the ingredients for a successful and enjoyable village pantomime.

The show was deliberately not a traditional pantomime but all credit to writer and director Sheila Rudgley who raided various nursery rhyme themes to come up with a wacky amalgamation of ideas. An impecunious Mrs Hubbard (Eileen Wright) obtains a financial life-line as the King and Queen (John Meikle and Di Garner) appoint her as “Washer of the Red Silk Pantaloons” while the wicked inventor Weasley (Graham Lewis) and his hapless accomplices hatch a variety of dastardly plots to steal the pantaloons, but are foiled by village policeman, Sergeant Wilkins (Pip Banham).

Janet Keymer choreographed and Elizabeth Rooke was the musical director which ended with cast and audience “Rockin’ All Over The World” with air guitars to the fore.

All the members of the Society can all be pleased with their performances. Proceeds from the charity performance were donated to the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Martin Braybrook