One of the most heartbreaking decisions the Gabriola Players board had to make earlier this year was to abandon all hope of staging a 2020 pantomime at the Community Hall.
The annual panto has become a firm fixture in the island calendar ever since Jenn Feenan introduced this holiday entertainment to Gabriola in 2007. For many, the panto is the official start of the holiday season. For Gabriola Players, it is our gift to island families.
No, there won’t be a panto performed live this year, but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about kids of all ages.
Throughout December we are making Pirates of Nursery Rhyme Island, the 2018 panto written and directed by our own Lesley Hazeldine, available for viewing at home – complete with Alex Dewar’s hilarious performance as Mary, the pantomime dame, Miranda Holmes as the evil Captain Jack Budgie (feel free to boo from your sofa) and the colourful cast of nursery rhyme characters and hapless pirates.
As the story begins, the biggest mysteries on Nursery Rhyme Island are whether Jack Spratt will ever lose any weight and how many more helpings of curds and whey it will take before Little Miss Moffatt explodes.
When a pirate ship is spotted on the horizon, the only person who is happy is Mary, who’d like to trade in her little lamb for a big, burly pirate.
Unfortunately for Mary, Captain Jack and his motley crew are only interested in one thing – treasure. Then the only question is: Will the good folk of Nursery Rhyme Island be able to fend off these vicious villains?
To enjoy the show again – or watch it for the first time – see the link on the right hand side of this page. (We ask that you make a small donation to help us defray some of the overhead costs that continue despite the ban on live performances.)
It may not be at the Community Hall, but it will once again be fun for all the family.
