FRANK CLIFF Chris Batstone directs a version of Sleeping Beauty full of good ideas, including a good fairy who arrives in a splendidly eccentric time machine, yet one which manages to retain the spirit of the legend.
FRANK CLIFF
Chris Batstone directs a version of Sleeping Beauty full of good ideas, including a good fairy who arrives in a splendidly eccentric time machine, yet one which manages to retain the spirit of the legend.
Will Hargreave's splendid design helps reinforce this with it's fairytale castle, while the thorn forest and it's guardians, which the prince must cross to wake his sleeping Princess, provides just the right amount of scariness to balance the riotous humour.
The latter, of course, includes huge dollops of audience participation, mostly in the hands of James Nickerson's splendid Dame, Nanny Fanny Annie, and Carabosse, the evil villain and Jay Worthy as a Gothic David Bowie.
Lucy Victory makes Briar Rose a feisty heroine, and, making his UK debut, American Tony Greenlaw a lively Prince Harry, while the rest of the splendid cast, including an immaculately-trained Chorus of Juveniles, obviously thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
A wonderful family show, mainly for the children, of course, who on Saturday seemed to work almost as hard as the cast.
t Sleeping Beauty plays at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, until January 13.
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