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Passers-by on King Street in the next fortnight may be forgiven for
thinking they see the Arts Centre shake. For this year's Attic
Pantomime has just begun, and with Aladdin and a huge smoking dragon
at loggerheads throughout the show, the old building is set to get a
fair workout.
Celebrating its 43rd annual pantomime, Attic prides itself in
producing the noisiest, Christmas show in town, presenting your
little darlings with plenty of opportunity to exercise their
tonsils with audience participation and singalong songs.
This year's director, Pete Thomson and his cast treated the
first night audience of Beavers, Rainbows and a WRI group to an
array of special effects, colourful costumes and
up-to-the-minute music from McFly, The Proclaimers and Busted.
As
Attic pantos go, however, this must be one of the quietest, with
the children only reaching full volume in the last half hour to
help the genies in their battle against the evil baddie,
Abanazar.
Of
course, any Aladdin is going to be compared by today's audience
to the Disney film, and as comparisons go, this storyline bears
little resemblance.
There were many good performances, most notably from Joan Logan
who became a charismatic and amiable Aladdin and Ricky Garden
who took the comedy of Wishee Washee in his stride, instantly
becoming the children's friend and adding a good dose of Doric
to the procedings.
Playing their mother was the diminutive Jonathan MacDonell, who
nimbly runs rings around the young mischief-makers, and portays
all the humour in the role through a vast range of facial
expressions and knockabout comedy.
As
the genies, Lindsay Bates and Steve Burns join forces to become
the perfect match to panto baddie Abanazar (Kenny Carle),
finally ending his reign in a light sabre showdown, which was
the piece de resistance for my six-year-old son.
With all the Attic Traditions in place - magic flags, stickers
and a battle of the spells to shake the rafters - this show will
gather momentum throught its 18-day run, ending on December 23.
Youngsters will be screaming all the way to Christmas.
Sonja Rasmussen
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