Stageworks’ Jack & The Beanstalk Panto a Giant Success
Talented students of Stageworks Performing Arts School had to wait over a year to perform their 20th anniversary show, Jack & The Beanstalk panto because of Covid. Was it worth the wait, oh yes it was!
The panto had 6 performances at the Kenton Theatre with students from Benson, Caversham and Cookham performing on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively and students from Henley took to the stage on Friday and two shows on Saturday.
From the singing, dancing and acting the whole cast from aged 4-16 put on a fantastic panto with comic timing and those awful panto jokes everyone loves! The Dame (Poison Ivy) played by Chloe Foster and the village idiots Dozy (Iona Copland) and Den (Ella Fitzpatrick) like in all good pantos stole the show with their jokes. We particularly loved Buttercup the cow milking scene with the jokes coming thick and fast with Buttercup being described as good with maths, he’s like a cow-culator and the reason that there are only 3 legs on a milking stool is because there’s no room for an udder!
The hours of rehearsal that must have gone into a show like this, with the added pressure of Covid still hanging around, Stageworks cast and team pulled off this giant success with the reward that were seen by smiles on both the cast and the young audience.
Emma-Jane Taylor, Stageworks Principal said, “Jack & the Beanstalk was supposed to have been the 20th Anniversary Show for StageWorks, but of course CV19 put paid to any celebrations we had planned in 2020….but we didn’t let that stop us….”oh no we didn’t”… because a year later we got back into the theatre to celebrate 21 years, and found new ways of working and achieving. When I founded StageWorks in 2000, I only ever wanted to create a safe space for children to enjoy something I always did as a young girl – performing. Over the years StageWorks has developed and built strong relationships with our community, because ultimately it’s these people that really make life a lot brighter during the difficult times. I am proud that the students of SW have finally got to perform, in a full working theatre with a crew. This stuff is the heartbeat for SW and an important part of our world, and we all love giving children these wonderful opportunities. I can’t thank my team/crew/students/parents/supporters/chaperones/front of house (and everyone else behind the scenes) enough, for bringing this fabulous family favourite to life.”
