‘Jack and the Beanstalk’

Press, 7 October 1985, Page 4

‘Jack and the Beanstalk’

“Jack and the Beanstalk,” written and produced by Peter Roberts, at the Repertory Theatre, October 5 to 12. Running time: 7.30 p.m. to 10.20 p.m. Reviewed by Elody Ratbgen.

A combination of the traditions of English pantomime and references to topical New Zealand issues has provided the Christchurch Theatre Workshop with an abundance of material with which to entertain the young and not-so-old of Christchurch. The show brings together a number of well known children’s characters, including a fairy godmother made redundant from “Cinderella.”

The main story line proceeds along the traditional pattern with a very appealing Alice the Cow having to be sold by Dame Martha (Terry Regan) so that she can pay her taxes. Jack (Janice Bateman exchanges Alice for a bag of magic beans and so begins ' the expedition to Cloudland to save the village of Blitzhaven from being terrorised by the Giant. The sub-plots include the two easily hoodwinked tax collectors, Bill and Ben, and the exploits of Simple Simon (Arthur Taylor) and his none-too-efficient Fairy

Godmother (Rita Taylor).

The narrative line is interrupted by a great deal of dancing and singing. At times this complements the events very well and in places is executed with skill and energy. The tapdancers, for example, perform several excellent routines, especially as Palace Guards. In other places, however, long ballet sequences do not add to the story and appear rather tentative in their presentation.

Towards the end of the show the story is lost altogether while different groups in the cast perform dub or group items with varying success. The production is too long at just under three hours and much of this material could easily be cut. The ending would have been stronger without it.

Terry Regan, Janice Bateman, and Arthur Taylor in the three leading roles gave strong performances. Terry Regan is agile and suitably aggressive in the Dame role. Janice Bateman handles the hero role with confidence and Arthur Taylor provides comedy and encourages audience involvement very successfully. Some of the other characters suffer from a

lack of direction for movement and voice production. More could have been gained by working Bill and Ben (Andy Beever and Alex Craig) together in a slicker comedy duo style. Special effects are used well. The most spectacular is the appearance of the Giant played by John Seymour. He towers menacingly over everyone and more than one small child ducked behind a seat as he made his entrance. The use of microphone to produce a nimbly, grdwly voice quality was good. Flashpots, smoke, trapdoors, and a bean ladder to Cloudland are all employed to entrance young audience members. There is a lot of music in the show and some excellent young talent in evidence. There is, however, rather a confusion of music styles, and the switch from taped to live music is sometimes disturbing. Rather more co-ordination on the musical side seems necessary.

Some pruning of this show is needed, and a tightening of pace and purpose by the cast. However, on the whole the production is entertaining and draws a lively audience response.