"Rapunzel" by Mansfield Hospitals Theatre Troupe.

Mansfield Palace Theatre.

For anyone my side of Nottingham who may not have heard of Mansfield Hospitals Theatre Troupe, they are a group of people who get together to put on a pantomime each year, something they have been doing since 1980, to raise money for local charities. This was my first time seeing any of their work, and I must thank George Morley for inviting me along to see their latest production.

Princess Rapunzel has been kept locked up in a tower for almost eighteen years by witch Gothel, who she believes to be her mother. But her royal parents, have not given up hope that one day she may return to them. And every year they celebrate her birthday, by releasing one sky-lantern for every year she’s been gone.

Rapunzel’s loneliness is broken by the arrival of three Fairies, who persuade her to let them transport her to the outside world. Gothel discovers Rapunzel has been freed, and enlists the help of two villains to return her to the tower. The scene is now set for a daring rescue.....

With the amount of local theatre groups I am blessed to see, it always astounds me of the quality of each individual production and every individual performance, especially when you roster into the equation that they have regular jobs, family life, children etc., but somehow they all manage to create entertainment that is worthy of being on the stage.

Rapunzel is played by Paige Allen. At the start of the panto, Paige is sat in the tower looking every bit a Disney Princess, and from that moment on all I saw and heard was a Disney Princess. Her voice is exquisite and when she gets to duet with her Prince on a couple of numbers, their voices seem to just melt into each other.

Nurse Hetty Hairspray is played by Martin Killick. I think this winter period there has been a few bars raised with both panto baddies and panto Dames, and here is another fantastic Dame, and what I like about Dame Hetty Hairspray is the common factor; no airs, no graces, just a good down to earth character who talks in the same way as her audience, which straight away endears the character to them. With the Mansfield Hospitals Theatre Troupe, I have seen only one person in this group previously, so I have nothing else to compare any of them to, but Martin has an obvious flair for Damehood, so I have to conclude that this can't be Martin's first rodeo in a frock, he is so comfortable in the role. He has some great lines but I think on Monday night the audience needed to catch up with Martin. I also liked the way that he came to the aid of another cast member when a line was missed, and while bringing the panto back on track, created the gentlest of prompt and worked it into the performance.

Prince George is played by  Sam Mycroft. Not your archetypal Prince figure but the surprise, for me at least, came when he opened his mouth to sing. What a voice this young man has! It's contemporary and really easy to listen to. There's a duet/mash up with Paige of Meghan Trainor's "Dear Future Husband" and Olly Murs' "Dance With You Tonight" which sounded incredible together - great choice of songs for that mash up by the way. Sam would be a boon in musical theatre with the voice he has; again I know nothing of these actors so know not if that is something that he has done in the past, or may want to do in the future, but his confidence on stage is really boosted when he sings.

The three magical fairies, Fairy Good, Fairy Well and Fairy Nuff are played by Alice Apark, Donna Ramsden and Hannah Brown. There's a lovely comedy section with Rapunzel regarding their names and the accidental use of them in conversation. I really liked the way that Fairy Nuff was the rebel fairy of the three; you could see this right from the start with the image, which gave this trio an edge.

George Morley played Willy Widdle, and straight away you just knew that the troupe would be having great fun with the name "Willy", as did the audience. George is the only one that I have seen in the past when he played the role of "Shrek", but this role is very different to that one, and just as fun. Willy is the character who gets a lot of the silly lines, the silly dances, the silly jokes and the slapstick, and is responsible to get the audiences involved, and he does that perfectly. It also helps in panto that you have a cheeky face which is smiling every moment that he is on stage.

The evil Gothel is played by Selina Payne. Now, you know that I love panto baddies, and I said earlier in this piece that the quality of panto baddie has risen, well Selina is another incredible panto baddie. the make up, wig and costume completely transforms Selina into this character who the audience, again took a bit of time to properly "boo", but they got there from the start of the second act. Deliciously devilish character but another gorgeous voice. I think Gothel's version of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" is possibly the best stage version I have heard and another clever mash up of Blondie's "One Way Or Another" and The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" was genius, all sung with such ease. Maybe Selina is a rock chick in disguise! Another brilliant baddie and another excellent voice.

The comedy duo in this pantomime are a pair of roguish villains called Ball and Socket. Ball is played by Rachel Best and Socket is played by Brett Maynard in a great pairing with Ball being the brains behind the duo and Socket being superbly silly. One scene they are involved in is with a stolen ladder which belongs to a window cleaner, played by James Robinson, who also gets a comedy cameo of his own. Ball and Socket are hired by Gothel to retrieve the missing Rapunzel after the three fairies give her freedom. As you can imagine there's cases of mistaken identity and several comic scenarios that arise.

On the hunt for Rapunzel as well is the army, which Willy signs up for, and is led by Sergeant Hawkeye, played by Sharna Allsop. Another minor comic role but what adds to the comedy is the large handlebar moustache Sharna has to keep control of.

While locked away in the tower, Rapunzel befriends a group of mice, led by Chief mouse, played by Liane Worth, who comes to the rescue of Rapunzel near the end. More than that I shall not say, as I don't want to give too much away.

Playing Rapunzel's real parents are Simon Roebuck as The King and Emily Gent as The Queen. Here's another fun pairing, both script wise but also height wise, proving some of the best deliveries come in small packages. Loved the chemistry between the King and The Queen.

There's  just two more cameo parts to mention, the first is from Bernadett Birzulis who comes on as The Ghost in the section where some of the characters are chased away by a ghost. there's a different look to this ghost, something I didn't ex-spectre see, and again no spoilers from me.

The other cameo part was right at the end and played by Caroline Hogg. Now if you were looking for Caroline's face to spot her, you wouldn't have been able to, but again, no spoilers from me!

The chorus consist of Rebecca Evans, O'Cean Tucker, Bernadette Birzulis, Laura Cassell and Jake Chapman.

The Senior dancers were Poppy Payne, Khaleesi Boreham, Lacey-Grace Hallam, Lucy Saucedo, Kacie-May Blyton and Holly Ann, all adding even more glamour to the show.

The young dancers are from Happy Feet Dance School and are Sophia Humphrey, Frances Lindley, Lucy Carter, Alice Gullett, Charlotte Ekins and the cutest curly-headed, blond young man Alfie Robinson, who all did their dance school extremely proud. So jealous of their moves as well.

Directed by Sarah Tideswell, who along with Deborah Wilson are the Finance Directors; Deborah also being the Chairperson for the Troupe. They also agreed to have a chat with me last Sunday on my radio show about the production, as if everything else wasn't stressful enough for them! Seriously though the pace of this show was incredibly well done and the scenes flowed beautifully with everyone knowing where they needed to be at all times, with maybe a little help from the Backstage Crew Neil Burzulis, Matt Henson, Glyn Dring (what a great name), and Stevie Cassell.

Musical Director is Nathan Fox. I have mentioned just how strong the vocals all are in this troupe and I reckon that Nathan may have had a hand, or a baton with this area. The live band sounded brilliant and consisted of Ryan Wilson (Guitar), James Wells (Keys and Guitar), Pete Smythe (Keys), Nathan (Drums), Hannah Bowler (Woodwind), Chrissie - who doesn't have a surname (Bass guitar) and Rachel Bowler (Woodwind). This seven piece band sounded gorgeous, showing that a live band will always sound better than recorded click tracks.

The choice of songs in this show really do cover the full age range from the 1940's to modern dance bangers, and I loved hearing a song that had been written and performed by one of my favourite guilty pleasure and fairly local band, the Lancashire Hotpots. I won't spoil it by telling you the title, in the same way that this very same track was teased in the telephone interview I had with Deborah and Sarah, but as soon as the music started I knew it was the one. Just don't go to this show without having your dinner/tea first as salivation may be brought on!

Choreographed by not one, not two but three choreographers, Kelly McCubbin, Evie Robinson and Sarah McCubbin. It's a big cast, along with the ensemble and dancers, but you can see just how much work has been put into this show choreographically. And I bet it was not the easiest of jobs getting everyone in the same place at the same time for dance rehearsals as well, but I loved how everything dance wise looked on the night.

The costumes are brilliant for every one on stage, right down to the young cast members and have been provided by Alice Apark, Donna Ramsden and Molly Limpet's Costumes. Lottie Peake and Deborah Wilson were also on hand to help Nurse Hetty in and out of her costumes, all of which looked marvellous.

Make up Artists for the pantomime are Lottie Peake and Elisse Hardy.

Sound and Lighting at Mansfield Palace Theatre are always very good, and they gave me nothing to grinch about in this show.

All profits from this production go to support local charities, so every ticket you buy helps make a difference in the community, which is why it is so important to support local theatre like this.

"Rapunzel" will be at Mansfield Palace Theatre until Saturday 7 February with both matinee and evening performances; go on let your hair down and get over there, see this show and have a really good chortle.