Review: Once Upon A Time (From Ealing Times)

Review: Once Upon A Time at West Wycombe Village Hall

3:15pm Monday 5th December 2011 in Local Reviews By Rita Carpenter

THE Masque Players staged their annual pantomime which this year was Once Upon a Time. The story incorporated characters from many fairy stories enabling more cast members to have prominent roles.

With over 30 taking part it would be unfair to mention any of the cast individually by name but there was the baddy everyone loves to hiss and boo, and a very glamorous dame. The comedy duo offered plenty of slapstick and custard pies much to the delight of the youngsters in the audience. With some beautiful costumes, excellent sound effects and lighting including an impressive ultra violet under the sea scene the audience was treated to a wide variety of scenes.

I particularly enjoyed the very fast action with Nick and Nack and the rather gorgeous wolf which was hilarious. The script this year was not written by their resident playwright Stephen Rockell who also runs Masquerade the youth section of the group and sadly it was not up to their usual standard. Last year’s pantomime was better but the audience expressed their approval with shouts and applause and a good time was had by all.