A truly magical outdoor production of Cinderella hit the stage 5 days ago at Wethele Manor and this evening we went along to see what we thought.
The show is at Wethele Manor until 20th December before it moves on to a number of other local venues, finishing its tour on the 3rd January. If you can get tickets, I’d recommend doing so. We arrived just before the show started at 5pm but you could really make an afternoon of it at Wethele Manor. They have a Magical Elf and Fairy trail in the day and also a light trail at night. They have donkeys and a manger scene and so much more. If you get tickets to Cinderella, you get allocated 3:45-5pm to enjoy the trail and donkeys within your ticket price. All tickets need to be purchased prior to entry and you can do this here: https://www.wethelemanor.com/whats-on-at-wethele/
Cinderella (Matilda Bott), Buttons (John-Robert Partridge), Prince Charming (Joe Deverell-Smith), The Ugly Sisters (Robert Moore and Pete Meredith) and the magical Fairy Godmother (Charis McRoberts) transported us to panto land with this family favourite with a few modern gags for the dads in there. Full of laughter, music and songs to entertain the whole family, this is a show sure to give everyone a great time, especially little ones.
Matilda Bott did a great job as an all singing and dancing Cinderella. My youngest daughter was so thrilled to *spoiler alert* see Cinderella and Prince Charming get together at the end (I haven’t just spoilt this have I? We all know the story of Cinderella?). My eldest loved the Ugly Sisters Corina and Virona, their whacky outfits (well done Hannah Marshall on the costume design) and cheeky jokes and she also loved Cinderella, Buttons, The Fairy Godmother and Prince Charmings unique rendition of the 12 days of Christmas. How many smelly socks and cans of beans?
This was a well written version of Cinderella by writer Ben Humphrey. John-Robert Partridge (Director), Elliott Wallis (Musical Director) and Catherine Prout (Producer) should also be proud of their accomplishments with the Pantomime. You’ve taken a difficult year and managed to bring some magic back into it.
We absolutely loved it and my girls aged 4 and 7 were chuckling away and interacting loads with the show. It was nice to feel normal again. Enjoy a show in the great outdoors, at a good distance away from other people all covid secure and safe. We were really lucky with the weather as although it was chilly, it didn’t rain. We took hot water bottles, blankets, wore layers, hats, scarves and gloves and borrowed some camping chairs from my friend to sit on. Brollies and waterproofs are recommended in case it rains.
The venue allows you to bring in your own food and drink although they do also have a cafe selling drinks (including hot chocolate, coffee, mulled wine and beers) snacks (cakes) and some hot food.
My husband treated us to hot chocolates and some cakes. I had a very tasty iced raspberry muffin. The girls shared a chocolate brownie which I am told was also very nice and my husband had a chocolate banana muffin. The hot chocolate worked not only as a nice drink, but a chance to keep my hands warm. Perfect.
The performance lasted approximately an 1 hour and 10 minutes with no interval, which was a perfect amount of time for my two little ones. My 4 year old sat glued to the show as did my 7 year old, minus one quick toilet break. For those with young children, the toilets had baby changing facilities. I know when mine were little, it was one of those important details that I needed to know.
There are still a few more days and time slots with tickets available but be quick, they won’t last long.
Disclaimer : We were invited along to review the show. All thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.