Review – Sarah Meers – District 6 Representative, NODA East
Feb 2025
A very warm welcome greeted me at the Loddon Players pantomime The Pied Piper from everyone involved in this annual production and there was a lovely touch to this in giving the audience, on arrival, a handmade cookie to reinforce this a heartwarming gift for everyone. Thank you.
The cast of this entertainment had without exception, the right characteristic approach in fact, the baddies were bad, and the goodies were good. Everyone working well together as individuals, duos, groups and ensemble, the addition of the Funky Feet Dancers as ever added to this whole creation of tradition with style. This ethos put in motion the important link with the audience, so essential in this style of performance. The whole production was funny and engaging throughout.
The director and production team worked hard to make this panto a credit to all concerned. The show was written by scratch by Steve Burton, the props, sets and costumes all hand made and appreciation in the amount of time and effort put in is evident in all it’s aspects.
There was great attention to detail and the sausage theme continued in every scene, down to Frank and Furters’ socks with the monogram F and repetition gag of Frankfurter. I particularly liked the little girl as a hot dog being cooked with a change of costume on stage and being then put in a bun, very cleverly executed. The sausage theme continued in audience participation, split audience in half to sing 10 fat sausages sizzling in a pan and was handled with competence. The toy rats on stage and rat masks were apt and the close to your song with birds and stars suddenly appearing was very amusing.
The genre of pantomime, for me, is the old ones are the best and this has this in abundance. The shout outs on the rats list, the sweets given to all children in the audience and the pie gag in its entirety, great. However, I felt maybe a little more movement /dance in some places would be lovely. Think about individual characters reacting on stage to a funny situation just to ensure the audience can see and understand the significance and be careful with prompts.
What a wonderful evening I spent with the Loddon Players in the Bavarian alps watching The Pied Piper. Congratulations to everyone for a traditional pantomime in the old style, the fun laughs and enjoyment for us all.
Review – Terry Reeve
Beccles & Bungay Journal
February 2025 *
ONCE again the enterprising Loddon Players have come up with a novel show turning the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin into a highly enjoyable pantomime.
As always it is a home-grown show scripted by producer Steve Burton, who has brought great creativity and imagination to the story of how rats infested Hamelin and how a piper is employed get rid of them.
The story converts naturally into the panto genre, with a King Rat introduced as the baddie and leader of the infestation, with the traditional dame role used as the leader of the inhabitants’ protests to the mayor.
Add the music dance, slapstick, humour, and colour of sets and costumes, and you have all the ingredients of a highly original and successful show.
Anthony Bunting is once again the anchor of the strong cast in the Dame role of Olga von Trump, using all his long experience to get the best out of the script.
Jane Rainer is animated as his son Fred, with the romantic thread provided by his love for Magda, played by Gemma Buskell – they complement each other well.
David Bingham takes the role of the arrogant mayor, Boris Johannson, while Vicki McDicken looks the part and is adept on the pipe (or recorder substitute!) in the title role of Pied Piper.
Peter Samain is suitably fierce as King Rat, while ten Funky Feet Dancers are the rats – lithe, nimble and suitably sinister in their dancing and scurrying back and forth on stage – they are always such a great asset to the Loddon pantomimes.
Beth-Rose Waghorn is King Rat’s lively side-kick Sniffer, and other supporting roles are filled by Jared Bollington, Sarah Colman, Sam Bailey, Linda Skepelhorn, Alasdair Skepelhorn, Johnny Green, Lewis Barber, Dawn Cartwright and Joe Jacob, with Skye Muir Robinson, Ana Harper-Bourne and Pauline Mason the chorus.
The show, which continues this evening and tomorrow (two performances),is directed by Jackie Bingham, with choreographer Vicky Codling and musical director Alan Cant.
* this report has been edited for accuracy and spelling
