Pantomime makes triumphant return to Castlebar

THE pantomime is back! But more importantly, it is here to say.

As an unapologetic and enthusiastic member of Mayo’s musical theatre community, this writer was particularly heartened to see the Castlebar Pantomime stage their ‘Once Upon A Time in Pantoland’.

Putting on something of this scale is quite a task. But starting from scratch after a five-year hiatus adds another layer of uncertainty.

Yours truly saw this after joining Ballinrobe Musical Society’s committee in the stagnant summer of 2020. Two years later, having not had a show for two years due to Covid-19, we held our 2022 AGM and knew by the decent attendance that the energy and the enthusiasm were there to get the musical going again. But there were still many unanswered questions.

Will anyone audition? Will we get a chorus? Will we get an audience? Will we get a backstage crew? How will we build the stage? Will we have people to make tea, prepare sandwiches, check tickets, do hair, apply make-up, mind costumes, source props, take photos and sell sweets?

The answer was a resounding ‘yes’, and two musicals later, the society boasts a healthy, happy and thriving membership.

No doubt, the people who revived Castlebar Pantomime asked many of the same questions when reviving Castlebar’s century-old pantomime tradition.

They had all of the above to organise, plus look after a small army of children (they were brilliant, let me tell you).

But they did it. (Oh yes they did!) They loved it, and the audience loved it. Indeed, they were quite often part of it. (We’re reliably informed local TD Alan Dillon got quite the slagging at the Sunday matinée.)

This reviewer has seen musicals from Waterford to Portrush in the past two years. But the recent Saturday-night spur-of-the-moment trip to Castlebar was a first as an adult.

Let’s start with the most important character in any good panto: the dame.

This reviewer first saw Ethan McNea perform in Achill Musical & Dramatic Society’s 2023 production of ‘Sugar’, where he played one of the unlucky musicians forced to crossdress to evade the vengeful eyes of the mob – as close to a panto dame as you were going to get.

But wow, if anyone was ever born to play a dame!

Dressed in a shining wig, a gaudy gown and a daubed with make-up, young McNea was absolutely superb as the shrieking, melodramatic Tiffany Tickles.

Because whatever about the gags, the pop songs, the over-and-back with the audience, and the loose, meandering, do-whatever-you-like-with-it plot, it’s the characters that make a pantomime.

No two characters were the same here. From the giggly, gregarious types like Tommy Tickles (Natasha Crouch), Tilly Tickles (Emma Daly), Snitch (Fran O’Leary) to the slightly more serious Spirit of Pantomime (Kate Loftus), King Charming (Paul Roberts), Fairy Godmother (Sabrina McHugh), Peter Pan (Lar Davis) Prince Harry (John Morley) and PC Pete (Damien Fee), everyone looked different, sounded different and brought something different to the stage.

That’s the beauty of pantomime.

A special mention for James Murray, who nearly sent the audience into spasms as the grunting, sarcastic, bald, too-too-sporting tooth fairy.

We can’t finish without a shout-out to Lorna Dennehy, - star of Castlebar Musical & Dramatic Society’s production of Legally Blonde: The Musical - who played the ‘baddie’ Mouldywart. Sporting a dark-purple head of hair for the part, Dennehy looked great and acted even better. Brilliant, brilliant stuff again from a performer who’d power the TF on her own.

Like most of the hundreds of people who saw this show, this reviewer went to Castlebar on Saturday with zero expectations and left smiling from ear-to-ear and the third week in January marked on next year’s calendar.

Is pantomime alive again in Castlebar?

Oh yes it is!