Mother Goose calls for young ‘goslings’ to join her cast

A trio of friends who met performing in pantomimes at The Kenton are joining forces once again for a cracking Easter production of Mother Goose and local young people are being invited to audition to join the cast.

Dan Whitley will return as the cheeky Silly Billy, alongside Brian Elrick as the hilarious Mother Goose and Lara Sas as the wicked Demon Vanity. They will be joined by Holly Atterton, from Nick Jr’s GO! GO! GO!, as Fairy Sparkles and Ella Bishop as Princess Jill.

The production, staged by Dantastic Productions, will be the company’s first community production at The Kenton and will give 24 young local performers the chance to appear alongside the professional cast.

Dan, Brian and Lara previously appeared together in two pantomimes at The Kenton and have remained close friends ever since. Dan said: “We’re really excited to come back. Myself, Brian and Lara were in two pantos together at The Kenton. Afterwards we always kept in touch and are now good friends. Brian has made lots of the costumes for the show.

“I’ve run a couple of summer camps and kids musical shows over the last couple of years and built up my own local audience. I call them my Dantastic supporters.

“I was keen to stage a large scale production and have the kids involved, making it a perfect community project. Kids from the summer camps and Kenton Youth are coming to audition and get involved. I’ve done a video for the Kenton Youth on how to prepare for the audition.”

The story sees kind-hearted Mother Goose discover that her extraordinary goose can lay golden eggs, turning her world upside down although Priscilla the goose has an attitude of her own. Things become more complicated when the wicked Demon Vanity tempts Mother Goose with dreams of beauty, fame and fortune, forcing her to decide what really matters. Audiences can expect “silliness, spectacle, friendship, a little goose magic and a cracking Easter adventure for the whole family.”

Dan promises a large-scale production featuring plenty of music, dancing and spectacular costumes, including a particularly large goose.

Dan commented, “The kids are going to be in it loads. It’s a full company production and the kids are a big part of. It is quite a spectacular production, with brilliants costumes and a large goose. It’s an all sing and dancing musical show.”

Dantastic Productions is looking for confident young dancers and performers aged eight to 15, with personality, energy, enthusiasm and, most importantly, a love of performing.

A total of 24 young performers will be selected and split into two teams of 12 to form the Junior Company.

Auditions will be held at The Kenton on:

Ages 8–11: Tuesday 10 November, 4.30pm–6.30pm

Ages 12–15: Wednesday 11 November, 4.30pm–6.30pm

There is no need to prepare a monologue or dance routine in advance.

Dan said: “Audition will be a fun experience – they will learn a dance, have a fun acting workshop and then those who want to sing will get a chance to perform.”

Rehearsals will take place outside school hours, on Saturdays and after school in the run-up to Easter.

Registration for the auditions is required.  To register go to https://www.dantasticproductions.com/mothergooseauditions