BIG INTERVIEW: It's fun with a capital F with Cinderella at the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre in Taunton

The reason is it is panto season again, oh yes it is, oh no it isn’t, oh yes it most defiantly is boys and girls.

Reamba Productions have returned to town following the success of last year’s panto production of Jack and the Beanstalk.

This year the company is promising Cinderella will be ‘The most magical pantomime of them all’.

Speaking to the cast I realise this might not just be the most magical but one of the pantos which is the most fun to watch and appear in.

Louis Rayneau has been cast in the role of Prince Charming.

Since the age of four, Louis wanted to be in show business and got on the ladder to success when he went to drama school when he was 17-years-old.

He has been involved in two pantos, he was the understudy in Aladdin and appeared in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

As well as this Louis has appeared in plays and was in an episode of Endeavour on ITV.

He said: “I love the theatre and enjoy the buzz which is created in a community when a cast come together for a performance. I am looking forward to being on stage and singing every night. I love the gags and the songs and all of this with Cinderella which is a magical fairy tale.

“This panto is very much a team effort.”

Another member of the team is Georgina Hendry who plays the lead role of Cinderella.

Last year Georgina was at the Tacchi-Morris when she played Fairy Sunflower in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Georgina said: “I can’t wait. There will be comedy, songs and costumes. I love the fact I get to do panto every year and the fact this panto runs from 8-23 December means I can be home in time for Christmas.

“Being in a panto is like being part of a family and it is one of the best feelings you can get as an actor. This will be my sixth pantomime and it still feels as magical as my first.

“I want this panto to be as magical as the pantomimes I saw when I was a little girl.”

One of those getting back into the swing of pantos is Geoff Bradbeer, who plays Baron Hard Up in Cinderella.

Geoff hasn’t been in pantos for 15 years but has still been busy in the show business world.

He has been doing comedy magic and is a holiday entrainment camp manager at Killigarth Manor Holiday Park in Devon.

All this has given him years of experience when it comes to working in front of an audience.

He said: “When I walk out on stage I can tell immediately what the audience will be like.

“When they (the audience) are ready you only have to ask them once to cheer or boo as the next time they do it automatically.

“When it comes to panto, 90 per cent of it is scripted while 10 per cent is the unknown.”

One of the cast who like Georgina Hendry is making a welcome return to Taunton is local lad, Sam Stay.

In 2017, he was playing the role of Simple Simon in Jack and the Beanstalk in the very theatre he had appeared in in his younger days while studying at the SPACE a few feet away from the Tacchi-Morris.

So this had become a ‘no place like home’ for Sam, who was delighted to have received the call to play Buttons in Cinderella.

Sam said: “I never expected to get the call but I was never going to turn down the role. Buttons is a role which brings a lot more heart and gravity to it when compared to the purely comic role of Simple Simon.

The audience has to feel sorry for Buttons. He is alone and has a love for Cinderella which will be unrequited.

“It is a much more rounded character. For me it is always great to work with a new cast and I am looking forward to having an amazing time and being part of a magical show.”

A member of the cast who is bringing super sparkle and a Hollywood style of glamour to his role is Jamie Jones who is The Wicked Stepmother.

His style of glamour for the part of The Wicked Stepmother he has based on the female impersonator glamour of Danny La Rue.

He said: “What I am aiming for is the glamour which is Danny La Rue esq. In itself it is very much an art form. This glamour style is an exaggeration of life, it is very much over the top.

"I wear a lot of jewellery and it all adds to a heighten glamour.

"I have at least 30 costume changes and have been asked to even look like Barbie!.

“With this pantomime there is something for everyone and you can be two or a 102-years-old and you can still enjoy it.

The panto runs from December 8-23. Further details online at tacchi-morris.com

READ REVIEW OF CINDERELLA: https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/leisure/arts_and_theatre/17287462.review-cinderella-at-the-tacchi-morris-arts-centre-in-taunton-is-a-fabulous-experience/