Theatre Britain Presents THE SLEEPING BEAUTY by Jackie Mellor-Guin
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 31, 2016
Theatre Britain presents The Sleeping Beauty by Jackie Mellor-Guin, opening at 2:30pm on Saturday, November 26 at the Cox Playhouse, 1517 H Avenue, Plano TX 75074 and running through December 30.
A beautiful princess falls asleep for 100 years. Only a handsome prince can wake her! The Sleeping Beauty is a traditional British panto, a fairytale told in the style of melodrama. We encourage you to cheer for the good guys, boo and hiss the bad guys and join in with the characters on stage. It's fabulous fun for the whole family!
Theatre Britain first introduced panto to the Metroplex in 1996. Many families from North Texas (and beyond) now consider it their holiday tradition. The Sleeping Beauty was their first panto back in 1996. We've hacked away the weeds, updated the show and invite you to come and help us celebrate our 20th birthday!
Directed by Sue Birch, The Sleeping Beauty features Amanda Bridges, Bryan Brooks, Robin Clayton, Edna Gill, Nikka Morton, Jamie Robinson, Devon Rose, Robert San Juan, Matthew Stepanek and Octavia Y Thomas. Set design by Darryl P Clement, lighting design by Jason Lynch, costume design by Tory Padden, wig and hair design by Don Hall, choreography by Terri Bruno and with original music by Aaron Fryklund.
What is panto?
A panto is a traditional fairy tale complete with songs, dances, jokes, exaggerated characters and lots of audience participation. It is the holiday entertainment in Britain and has been popular since the early 1800s.
Panto is a wonderful way to entertain children, involving them interactively with the characters on stage, encouraging them to cheer, enlisting their help to support good characters and above all to see that the good chap helps the damsel in distress. And because panto works on two levels, there's plenty for the adults to enjoy as well.
The centerpiece of any panto is The Dame, a comic, larger than life character, played by a man. The tradition of men playing women stretches back to the earliest origins of the theatre, when girls and young women were played by youths and old women by men, often comically. The panto Dame, usually the hero's mother, was a creation that emerged from the early Music Halls of the Victorian era. The public warmed to seeing their favorite comedian playing the role of Jack's mother or the King's cook and bottlewasher.
The Principal Boy is the romantic male lead and is a 'breeches part', that is, played by a woman. It can be traced back to at least the early 1800s, predominantly in opera. The first panto Principal Boy was Eliza Povey, who played Jack at Drury Lane in 1819, but the convention did not take hold fully until the 1880s with the rise of the Music Hall. So why have a woman play a man? Well, it was a way of increasing the popularity of the show. The VictorIan Male, living in a society where even the legs of the parlor piano were covered for modesty's sake, craved the vision of a well-turned calf or shapely ankle. In a male role, actresses were allowed to display as much leg as they dared. Audiences would compare which actress had 'the best legs in the business'.
The Villain is always very mean and nasty and must be booed and hissed by the audience at every opportunity! And there's the Ghost Scene. What can we say about this? Well, there's always a ghost who pops up when you least expect it and it's up to the audience to warn the characters on stage. Theatre Britain is proud to continue the great tradition of panto. Come celebrate the holidays with us, British-style! Historical panto information courtesy of www.its-behind-you.com.
November 26 - December 30, 2016, Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 2:30pm & 7:30pm, Sundays at 1:30pm & 5pm, NOT December 23, 24, 25. PLUS December 26, 27, 28, 29 & 30 at 7:30pm Cox Playhouse 1517 H Avenue, Plano, TX 75074 (Free parking off G Avenue)
Tickets Adults $21, Students/Seniors $16, Children (under 14) $11, 10% discount for parties of 10 or more. Online: theatre-britain.com (No online booking fees) Box Office: 972.490.4202
Theatre Britain is funded in part by the City of Plano.
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