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by Win Brion

Directed by Judith Howe
Musical director: Margaret Howe

January 18, 19 & 20, 1996

Aladdin, a lazy lad Sue Worker
Widow Twankey, his adoring mother Phil Williams
Wishee Washee, her laundry boy Martin Mansell
Abanazar, a wicked wizard Tag
Emperor of China, a royal presence Arthur Plummer
Princess Souchong, his lovely young daughter Katy Clifton
Lady Lapsang, her lady-in-waiting Dorothy Bentote
Grand Vizier, the Emperor's right hand man Brian Beeston
Slave of the Ring, a helpful character Emma Kimsey
Genie of the Lamp, an even more helpful character David Higgs
A Peking Duck, a winsome waddler Trying to Winger!

Guards, Citizens and Chorus (and all essential to the plot)
Bridget Allen, Simon Bolley, Mark Brown, Pam Brown, Tim Bryan, Iris Castles, Vicki Doolin, Janet Ford, Pat Harper, Emily Hennessey, Alison Higgs, Robin Howe, Michael Plummer, Ann Taggart, Blair Taggart, Lauren Waller, Sarah Waller, Barbara Williams, Amy Williams, David Williams

Programme Notes       [ Photographs ]

Aladdin is the hero in one of the most popular stories in the Arabian Nights. The lazy boy, 'a thorn in the eye of this mother' because of his unwillingness to go to work, is brought by a magician to an underground cave and finds there the most precious of jewels and an old lamp in which a genie is imprisoned.

However, known only through the French translation (1704-1717) of Antoine Galland, the story of Aladdin, which is missing in all manuscripts of the Arabian Nights, was long suspected of being a forgery, perhaps by Galland himself. Toward the end of the nineteenth century an Arabic manuscript of the story was discovered by the French scholar Zotenberg. Since, however, the manuscript is of comparatively current origin, all doubts of the authenticity of the story have not yet been fully removed.

David Higgs

--- SLP ---

"Why don't we do a pantomime?" was one suggestion made some time ago, during a discussion on future productions.

Past experience has proved that it is not easy to find a suitable pantomime script, so someone said jokingly (at least, I thought it was a joke at the time!) that we should write our own. I am not at all sure how things moved on from there to the point where I agreed to think about writing the script. However, quite soon I found myself reading several story versions of Aladdin and thumbing through piles of musical numbers. Then I was swept along on a tide of enthusiasm from members of Players' who gave me ideas for songs, jokes and characters.

Images Of Aladdin
The Players have performed Aladdin twice before; in 1957 and 1963. Two of our present members, Barbara Williams and Beryl Orders, took part in these productions. [Actually three performances before, one also in 1953. Barbara was in all three and Beryl in the first two. - Ed.] Hylda Darby was the director [of all three] and clearly remembers an embarrassing situation which arose during one of the performances. A "robin" played an important role and at a vital moment this robin failed to appear on cue. A desperate actor, tired of waiting, shocked the audience - and particularly the vicar - by uttering the unscripted line, "Where's the bl**dy robin?" This led to that vicar apologizing to the audience as they left the hall.

Other members of Players have their own particular memories of various productions of Aladdin. The youngsters, of course, have vivid impressions of the colour and magic of the popular Disney version. However, Tag remembers it as the first pantomime-on-ice he saw, about twenty years ago. Bridget recalls a primary school production in which her daughter played a particularly tiny Aladdin. Ann took two of her grand-children to see Jon Pertwee as Abanazar at the Beck Theatre. When he appeared, accompanied by a great flash, one little girl climbed on to her grand-father's lap and hid her face. The other said clearly, "I think we'll go home now." Judith has fond memories of a visit, when she was quite young, to the London Palladium. Her imagination was captured by the cave scene and the cast was particularly outstanding. Cilla Black played the part of Aladdin, Leslie Crowther was Wishee Washee, Alfred Marks portrayed the evil Abanazar and Terry Scott appeared as Widow Twankey. Other members of the cast were Sheila Bernette and Basil Brush.

Although we can not match such a star-studded array, we hope the enjoyment of our current production will add to this kaleidoscope of images of Aladdin.

Pantomime is now a particularly British form of entertainment, whose roots go back to the bacchanal of ancient Rome, with its broad comedy and tradition of dressing men as women or vice versa. This later developed into an early form of pantomime called Harlequinade which was popular during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. By 1800, straight presentations of traditional fairy stories were appearing on stage. Later, spectacle and comedy became important.

The story of Aladdin now appears in the Arabian Nights as one of the tales told by Scheherezade to Sultan Shahryar. She used her story telling skills to charm him in the hope that he would spare her life - which he did. Some changes have been made to the story over the years and pantomime adaptions are many and various. My version introduces even more variations, which I hope will not detract from the central story of the lazy lad Aladdin and the amazing magic lamp.

I have enjoyed the challenge of this, my first attempt at script-writing, but I shall never again resent the amount of royalties we have to pay for our productions. The authors have my endless admiration for their hard work! I should like to express my thanks to everyone who has supported me in this venture. Firstly, to Judith, for convincing me that it was possible and for her work in translating the production from 'paper' to 'performance'. Secondly, to Margaret, for her guidance and invaluable assistance as musical director. Then, of course, to all the cast and crew for their enthusiasm and co-operation.

Win Brion