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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
"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 |