The History Of Lilleshall Pantomine
Puss In Boots - 1988
Was anyone out there interested in a village Panto? What were all those little white slips of paper pushed through every door and found blowing in the wind down the lane? ..... well... yes.... answers came floating on the air.... it could be fun.... I'd love to help... I'm willing to have a go.... but DON'T put me on the stage! A first meeting was held to see if there really was any support.
It all seems so long ago, now. There WAS a lot of interest and so Lilleshall Pantomime slowly began to take shape. People were keen to take part in some way, some were persuaded to join and others cajoled into it, but a cast was formed from those brave few who were willing to be up 'on stage'.
On a windy Autumn evening, the first fundraising event took place and the sum of £100 was raised...It was Go! We now had money for expenses, eager participants so what more could we want?
The first meetings were tentative readings of the script, written by Graham Gibson, who also agreed to be the Dame, and discussions of technical and practical matters: will we need lighting? If so, from where? What would it cost? What about music - should it be taped? Live? What about costumes? Sets? Props? Staging? There was so much to think about. It became clear that we needed more people to help, a separate technical team... AND MORE MONEY!
The rehearsals rolled on under the watchful eye of retired school teacher, Mavis Francis who had agreed to direct us all. Frank, our village vicar who was playing the King, was unable to pronounce 'Gypsophelia'(The Dame's first name!) A less than light weight Dame having to 'faint' in the arms of a considerably lighter Lady in Waiting resulted in them ending up on the floor more than once to the sound of laughter from the rest of the cast! Much giggling and tom-foolery being brought to a halt by those awful haunting words from Mavis... "Learn your lines!"
The tech' team set about chasing sheet music for songs, hiring lighting and organising props and costumes. Mavis took our scripts away and despite our begging and pleading refused to give them back... "Oh Mavis,the merciless!" was the cry. We needed a donkey! S.O.S. calls went out for budding donkey impersonators and the next rehearsal saw half a donkey arrive to 'run' through the role. Well, it was a start. The rest of the donkey joined us later.
We laughed together, we panicked together...we wondered if we would ever be ready to stage the Show..... but we did! The Pantomime opened on a cold Thursday night in March to a sell out audience and ran for three performances, well received and to much applause from appreciative audiences. We were hooked on the adrenaline and camaraderie of it all and so Lilleshall Pantomime group was born!