"The Nutcracker Prince" by The Young Performers.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

This is an original pantomime written by Barbrara Moran and Patricia Freer and based on Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite".

Normally, I would say that you know the story and get straight down to saying how brilliant everyone was. But you don't know what this panto is about, do you? Oh no you don't! Enough of all this literary frivolity, let me give you a quick synopsis of the story....

It's almost Christmas and Grandfather Drosselmeyer is throwing a huuuuuge party with the usual dancing, food and presents for all of the younger guests. Franz and Clara. the Grandchildren are so impatient to open their gifts that they are allowed to do so and discover that Grandfather has made Franz a wooden mouse and Clara a wooden nutcracker in the shape of a Prince. Little do they know that the tree that the wood was carved from had a spell cast on it, therefore making both toys magic, but only when kissed!

The mouse suddenly turned into a giant, nasty rat who kidnapped the two children, but to foil King Rat, the wooden Nutcracker Prince turned into a magical Prince who, along with Nanny and Grandfather, and a few other magical fairies, set off on an adventure to save the kidnapped Clara and Franz from the clutches of King Rat and his baddies!

And you know what? It's brilliant fun! That's the start of the story, now onto the praising.....

Grandfather is played by one of my favourite young actors Finlay Tomlinson. Strangely he looks a lot older than he is, not sure how they have managed that, and he has nailed the physicality of the role, complete with a walking cane, making all of those noises and faces that people my age make when they get up out of a chair. I also noted that his diction has improved and I could hear every word he spoke, and holds his head up at all times when speaking to the audience. This young man shone in this role tonight, especially with the comedy element of the character being hard of hearing and mishearing some of the phrases. Finlay has always had funny bones on stage and this role has made dem bones grow even more.

I will also add that Finlay is one of those young actors who does not get fazed when something goes, let's say, not to plan. On opening night, something happened near the end which was not scripted and Finaly dealt with it like the unfazable young actor he is. In fact, I think that part should be kept in because it got a brilliant response from the audience.

Nanny is also another brilliantly written comedy character and played by Lexie-Mae Hart. I had been expecting a pantomime aimed at the same age audience as the actors involved but no! Here we have a naughty Nanny with some of the things that she comes out with, and Lexie-Mae delivers the lines with conviction. There are some excellent costumes for Nanny to wear as well, a couple receiving wolf whistles from the packed theatre. A lovely cheeky performance from Lexie-Mae, who looked as if she was enjoying it just as much as the audience were.

Clara, the young girl who is not averse to having tantrums when she does not get her own way and often tends to throw her shoe at people to make her point, is played by Mily Hopkins. Clara's rambunciousness - I know, great word that I have just discovered - is half of the reason for the children's kidnapping, but is also how they win the battle at the end. Something to watch out for without being too much of a spoiler!

Clara's brother, Franz, is played by Evie Yates. Franz is the typical brother who wants to have a go with everything his sister has and that is how this massive adventure really gets going. Great pairing of Evie and Mily in these roles.

Prince Valen - the Nutcracker Prince -is played by Paige Bone and another young actor who has nailed the physicality of their role. She looks regal as she strides across the stage with head held high and performs like the hero that Prince Valen is. And of course, there's love in the air as well. Does he get his Princess? Come along and see.

The lovely Laura is played by the lovely Clarissa Armitage. In all good pantomimes there are couples that are thrown together and make for happy endings. Need I say more? Laura gets her day and her match, as does another couple in this story. Lovely voice and a bit of a groover as well.

We all love a good baddie and King Rat is a brilliant baddie and I truly think that Daniel Swan absolutely relished his role as King Rat, especially in how he addressed the audience even before the curtains were raised, and also as he took his final bows, he kept in character from start to finish. His rodent staff were almost as evil as he was, well apart from one (but I won't say which one and why). They were made up of Millie Weston (Dribble), Alex Povey (Drivel), Violet Graney (Twitch) and Imogen Scott (Snitch).

One of the good guys is Uncle Mergus, played by Jamie Higgins. Jamie is leading man material but I'd have liked him to maybe slow down the delivery just a tad as he seemed to want to get his part of the script out of the way; maybe nerves on this opening night, but a very charismatic actor is Jamie. 

Back to the nasty characters and we come to Malpoda, who wants a certain ingredient from the children to complete her latest potion, which is why King Rat kidnaps the children to get on her good side. Alexa Lewis, like Daniel looked to enjoy every menacing minute she was on stage. Alexa has great poise and I loved her deliciously devilish rendition of Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra".

We get not one, but two panto animals in this show; two reindeers. Randolph, who has a very runny nose and a cough is played by Emily Wilkins and Livvy Read, and Ria who has been force fed onions by Malpoda, is played by Remy Read and Heidi Parsons. Great co-ordination with both of these pairs.

And so back to some more goodies. Neve Johnson (Auralia), Lottie Ellis (Eleane), Evie Perks (Fallandra), Sophie Longcroft (Mother Nature), Keeley Rickerby (Sweetpea), Izzy Pickering (Primrose), Daisy O' Connor (Poppy)and Molly Price (Snowdrop).

The ensemble are made up AJ Chamberlain, Alexia Simpson, Amelia Baker, Archie Brooks-Ball, Elijah Green, Emily Mae Taylor, Emmie Simmonds, Megan Shackleton, Mia Allen, Millie Newbold and Olivia Monk. All of which played every other part in this panto wonderfully.

Directed by Vicky Byrne, assisted by Ella Charlesworth and Lewis McDowall, this pantomime could not have gone any better with all of the cast looking to have enjoyed everything on stage as much as us. It was pacy and an absolute blast from start to finish. It highlights that younger actors can embrace panto roles, audience participation, comedy, slapstick alongside acting, singing and dancing. Vicky and co. really seems to have got the best out of this talented and enthusiastic cast.

Musical Director is Harvey Tavener. Another brilliant area of the production team, but then again Harvey knows his stuff when it comes to music and performing, so the perfect person for this role. Included in the show are some real bangers that will have your hands clapping, toes tapping and ricks rolling.

Choreographed by Lottie Ludlow, another expert in their given field. I watched all of the dancers and sometimes you may spot one or two who watched the others for the moves, or maybe one or two who were a second or two behind, but not in this show. Like the singing and acting the cast are a mirror for the various sections of the production team, and this cast showed what a brilliant bunch of teachers they have in the various fields by showing the audience what they had been told to do in rehearsals, and doing it to the high standard we see on that stage.

There were some fabulous costumes sourced and provided by Sarah Charlesworth, Andy Cook and Friends of The Young Performers. King Rat, Mother Nature, Nanny, Malpoda and The Prince's costumes were really eye-catching.

A great set design as well with several different locations and scenes slid effortlessly into place and designed by Roydon Charlesworth. Combined with the projections, designed by Lewis Cuthbert and operated by Gizel Chaparova, this was a pretty top notch area of production.

The lighting was a match for all other areas of the production with the design being by Dave Martin and Maddie Taft.

The sound design is the area that I usually have anything slightly negative to comment on, not all the time, but there were a few too many mic pack issues for me to skip over this area. Mic packs when they are on an actor can play up, especially with how an actor moves and wires can become loose and start to cut out, and that is really what dropped the ink in the ointment for me. That said there is nothing that a sound operator, in this case Olivia Michaud, or designer can do about it, so it's not their fault, and I know that good quality mic packs don't come cheap and you have to use what you have to get you by. That is also just one reason to support local theatre groups so that faulty mic packs with loose wires can either be maintained or replaced. I must say it was really good to see opening night though with very few empty seats.

And finally, I must congratulate the authors of this show, Patricia freer and Barbara Moran. It can't be easy to write a completely original pantomime using a classical composer's work, "The Nutcracker Suite" as a baseline. For a start, the majority of the cast will probably not have heard Tchaikovsky's work, and probably even further may not relate to it, even though there is one piece that lyrics have been added to "Dance Of the Sugar Plum Fairy", and it sounded great. I loved the comedy and jokes written for this, let's face it, who doesn't find the mishearing of an old man's understanding of what he thought he had heard very comical, plus the sauciness and seaside humour of Nanny's retorts?

"The Nutcracker Prince" is at The Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 17 January. Brighten up your January blues with this fun packed and fast paced pantomime. There may be rain outside dear, but there's also some inside "rein deer", which is much more fun.