South Yorkshire Times, July 7h, 1951
Kilnhurst “Babes”
Go to Mexborough in Rollicking Pantomime
Kilnhurst Amateur Theatrical Society give Mexborongh Its liveliest show for a long time In the production In the Royal Cinema this week of the pantomime. ” Babes in the Wood.” Three hours of side-splitting entertainment have ensured full houses each night, and a fine collection of grand tunes has given ample scope to both principals and chorus.
Cast of Fifty
Heading a cast of more than 50 is 18-years-old Beryl Jones, whose devil-may-care version of Robin Hood and whose delightful singing draws the well-deserved admiration of Eileen Hill, a charming Maid Marion. First-class singing and dancing come from Doreen Ward—a spirited Will Scarlett who almost steals the show—and June Edwards shows a twinkling pair of toes in her duet-dance with Doreen and in several solos.
Ron Birks brings the house down as a wonderfully ‘gormless” dame, and “Rough and Tumble” (Frank Hudson and George Kirton)—described in the dialogue as a “pair of perfect fools”—are indeed a perfect pair of fools.
Violet Sugden is a golden-voiced Fairy Goodeed and June Edwards a nimble-footed Spirit of the Wood. Both exude ethereal virtue and are in happy contrast to the villainy of the “wicked uncle” (Jack Hudson) by whose evil command the babes (Gillian Whitaker and Mary Bamford) are banished to the wood. Incidentally, these babes seemed to me to be quite big enough to look after themselves, and the traditionally sugary phrases—(“Dear Maid Marion is so good and kind to us. I wish she were our mother”)—fell a trifle oddly from the sophisticated lips of this tap-dancing pair. My quarrel, however, would be with the dialogue rather than the babes who dance well, speak their lines clearly and intelligently, and generally put up performances on a par with the general high standard.
Nursery Rhyme
Just one more grumble —the first half is too long. On Tuesday it lasted nearly two hours and a fidgeting audience was only avoided by the high quality of the entertainment.
The most delightful scene of the lot takes us to a land of nursery-rhyme characters, with a King G——g, an immaculate bunch of toy soldiers, a delicious bevy of tiny ballet-dancing fairies, a beaming little military man in a splendidly !4triped tunic, and a host of other appealing characters.
All in all producer Tom Bamford, musical director Vera Williams, dancing director June Edwards, and the whole cast can congratulate themselves on a really first-class show.
Others taking part are Bill Shirley (Little John), Charles Gill (Friar Tuck), Edith Senior, Vera Squires, Ted Burkinshaw, Ron Skidmore, Terry Law (Robin Hood’s men); Jean Squires, Mavis Dockery, Mavis Squires, Gladys Barlow, Margaret Wood and May Pears (senior dancers), Marion Turton, Nora Shaw, Wendy Robinson, Jean Oliver, Audrey Edwards and Ada Carnell (juvenile dancers); H. Parkin, Alice Cartwright, Linda Beecham, Mary Bamford, Enid Hatfield, Doreen Case and Corinne Storey (chorus), and Dorothy Edwards, Marie Mason, Greta Parker, Norma Walton, Joan Carwood, Pat Brown, Beatrice White and Ann Kime (dancing tots)
The week’s run concludes to-morrow