An opening night review of Cinderella

Zara is in the process of completing her Bronze Arts Award, for Part B of the award young people must experience an arts event as an audience member and reflect on whether they enjoyed it. Below Zara shares her views on our current pantomime ‘Cinderella’.

Review of Cinderella Pantomime at the Courtyard – Opening Night
by Zara Hawkins (age 10yrs)

We were at the opening night of Cinderella at the Courtyard, which was crowded since it was completely sold out. With a simple tale like Cinderella, you’d think it would be a short and boring pantomime. However, it was nothing of the sort!

They added details that made the story more ‘interesting’ than in the normal tale, like telling the audience who the fairy godmother was and how she got to know Cinderella.

The scenes were glistening with sparkling glitter, and the costumes beautifully matched the colours of the background, making it look glamorous. You never knew when the scenes were going to stop changing, as each one seemed like it might be the last.

I particularly liked the two pantomime dames that played the ugly stepsisters, who constantly tried to impress their stone-hearted and greedy mother. We heard that Melanie Stevens (who played the wicked stepmother), joined the cast just a few weeks before the opening night! She gave an amazing performance.

We sat right next to Richard Loveridge, who is the sound designer and he did an excellent job (whilst wearing his shorts). I also liked that they re-mixed some famous songs to make them relevant to the story.

Zara is being supported by an Arts Award advisor from The Courtyard’s Education Team. If you are interested in finding out how The Courtyard can support you through an Arts Award, take a look at our Arts Award page here.

Cinderella is on at The Courtyard until Saturday 11 January, book your tickets now!