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Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending this year's pantomime at the Yvonne Arnaud, ‘Cinderella’!
What a wonderful way to get into the Christmas spirit!! The Yvonne Arnaud in its entirety was decked out with festive decorations, Light-up wands were available for purchase and the christmas songs were blasting - Panto Season has arrived!!
This year's production of ‘Cinderella!’ was just what you would want from a panto!
Every single performer gave their best performance and the end result was a high-energy, fun and exciting show that entertained children and adults alike.
Lucy Benjamin stars in the role of ‘Baroness Hard-up’ which she characterised fantastically. She is a master of her craft and gives a standout performance in this panto. It is worth seeing the show just for her performance alone.
Another outstanding performance comes from Clair Gleave taking the title role of ‘Cinderella’. Playing a role like this is just perfect for Clair who takes to the stage with such grace, elegance, energy and fun. Her performance was eye-catching and her vocals were superb!
Claudia Kariuki plays the Fairy Godmother. As they are the fairy godmother, their vocals are just magical! Every panto needs a fairy and Claudia is the perfect choice with a warm smile and a twinkle in their eye, they enchanted the audience - even leading to all of the children in the audience going up on stage in what the performers called “a first!”.
James Merry is the hilarious ‘Buttons’. With a character like this in a pantomime you need high energy and a great rapport with the audience and Merry brings all this and more! The children and the audience loved his character and that is evident from the great cheer he received in the curtain call!
Ugly Sisters - played by Peter Gordon and Matt Pinches, respectively named ‘Thelma and Louise’ donned fabulous outfits in true panto dame fashion. Every one liner left the audience (and sometimes only the adults!) chuckling away and they raised the energy of the performance by 100% as they strutted their stuff around the Yvonne Arnaud stage.
Pairing all of those performances with a magnificent prince (Stanton Wright), an Incredible ensemble, a magical dress transformation, an impressive carriage to the ball and some very well chosen musical numbers such as “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “A Million Dreams” makes this years Yvonne Arnaud Pantomime a complete hit!
If you’re down in Guildford or willing to travel this festive season - then Head to
It runs until the 7th January.. Don’t be a grinch and get to the Yvonne Arnaud and spread some festive cheer!
Robbie Davies | Robbie’s Backstage Bants
Mon 4th December 2023