Review: SLEEPING BEAUTY: THE PANTOMIME at Circa Theatre

A dazzling array of talent on show in this updated version of an old classic

A tale almost as old as time (the earliest known version dates back to the 1300's) is given a fresh coat of paint in Circa's latest end of year offering. Speaking to the director (Gavin Rutherford) before the show, he was excited that this pantomime was a tale involving love at its core and that gave him a lot to play with and play with it he did.

The story is a bit more complex than the original, as these days a man playing the "knight in shining armor" who had not met the princess with his first action being to kiss her, would be looked at quite differently than in the past.   This is carefully avoided with a bit of time travel magic in the Portal-oo as our "knight" meets the "princess" in an earlier time and falls in love, only to be separated when our "princess" falls victim to the evil witch and puts her to sleep for 900 years.

The cast is the strongest I have seen in the last five years for Circa's end of year production, all excellent in their perfectly cast roles. All leads have strong vocal ability and the songs arranged and played by Michael Nicholas Williams (a Wellington institution) are a great mix of old and new bangers, that most in the audience will quite happily sing along to.

Rachel McSweeney as Aurora Australis is an absolute delight and Jackson Burling as Justin Time plays our hero with just the right mix of humility and bravado.

I particulary enjoyed Bronwyn Turei as Dusk, the evil star of the show while Jthan Morgan played the dame Anita Minute perfectly, not being too flamboyant , picking their moments just right to gain support from the entire audience.

Simon Leary and Kathleen Burns played husband and husband roles of Dawn and Day respectively and provided many of the laughs, especially with their interaction with the audience.

Natasha McAllister rounded out this excellent cast in the role of Cuddles.

This version of Sleeping Beauty was written by Gavin Rutherford (the director) and Simon Leary (Dawn) and had just the right mix of humour and action. The choreography by Jthan Morgan and Natasha McAllister was also slick and polished. There was excellent sound (Oliver Devlin) and lighting (Kate Anderson), helping make this production a great success.

At this time of the year there are always a lot of pressures on time to make sure you get everything done before the big day, but you should definitely make time to get along to this outstanding and hilarious piece of theatre. It will appeal to all ages. It's simply wonderful.

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