Santa In Space
About the Production
This out-of-this-world pantomime starts in the depths of outer space, where the evil Vileun the Vile is celebrating the culmination of his plan to bring the entire Universe / Galaxy / Solar System (We don’t think he’s dreadfully bright, as he doesn’t seem to realise they’re very different things) under his dominion. His muddled mystic, Astra the Astrologer, lists all his successes, before finally telling him that the job is not yet done. The planet Earth remains unconquered. And the key to its downfall and Vileun’s ultimate success? The kidnapping of Santa Claus!
Meanwhile, in the little village of Merrydale, Dame Dangle and the village children are preparing for the upcoming seasonal celebrations when two visitors arrive. One is the Dame’s nephew, Captain Dick Daring, on leave from his regiment to visit his favourite aunt. The other is Crystal, a young lady who’s come all the way from the North Pole to speak with the village’s friendly inventor, Professor Atnas. The Professor is, of course, not what he appears, but is actually Santa Claus himself, and when Crystal informs him that he must return to the North Pole to resolve an issue with the Elves, he begins to quickly pack up his things, including his robot, Roberta.
But it’s too late. Before he can leave, Vileun and his henchmen Null and Void land their spaceship in Merrydale, and with the aid of a hypnotised Dame Dangle succeed in kidnapping the jovial giver of presents and take him back to Varbos!
Can Captain Daring, Dame Dangle, Roberta the Robot, the lovely Crystal and a rag-tag collection of village children fly to the rescue? Can they save Christmas? And the world? Of course they can!
The Cast
Behind the Scenes
Image Gallery
The Reviews
Aliens snatch Santa!
Father Christmas was Santa-napped from Coulsdon last week and taken to the planet Varbos! But don’t worry kids – it was only pantomime.
Chris Argles directed the Theatre Workshop Coulsdon in “Santa in Space” with gusto and at great speed. Vileun the Vile was helped in his Santa-snatch by Null and Void (two gormless galactic goons, well done by Andy Guilbert and Simeon Dawes). Richard Lloyd had the entire audience hissing and booing at his villanous Vileun – a really nasty piece of work. Lee Wilkinson made a standard nuisance of himself as Tommy Tucker: Helen Charman was the robotic robot, Roberta, and Christine Blake proved herself a stage natural as the astrologer Astra. But the whole improbable thing was lifted off the boards with Dame Dangle, Tim Young as one of the best dames I’ve seen for ages: voluminous handbag and pantaloons, malapropisms and mixed metaphors – the lot…
This was good old fashioned panto at its best. There were no smutty jokes, no modern pop. The dame was not just an actor in drag. There was no doubt, even in the youngest kid’s mind, that Mr Young was anything but male (the beard helped).
There was a lot of innuendo (but not of the unpleasant variety); there was ear-splitting audience participation and some nifty effects (Zarathustra music, red “smoke” and sensational lightning). The only thing that was missing was the pantomime horse. Very loud, very fast moving and very good, this production should have been given a much longer run.
Judith Smallshaw for The Croydon Advertiser
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