It is W.C. Fields who is alleged to have issued the warning that in show business it might be best to avoid working with children and animals. You might want to add another category about vintage motor cars, especially one that would have failed an M.O.T. less than 24 hours before curtain up. Whilst there were no animals here, there were more than 20 children in two teams as well as the eponymous and afore-mentioned vehicle, all of which might have had many of those involved wishing a different show had been chosen. But, those of us in the audience were pleased that this hard-working team, which last year had dealt with a flood in the theatre on a wintry day, were again equal to the task of getting the show on the road and, in this case, the troublesome vehicle in the air. For this reason, the stage crew deserve first mention here. Besides the car, they had to handle a large and difficult set, containing, amongst other things, breakfast and sweet-making machines, a huge birthday cake, the child-catcher’s truck, boxes for a life-sized doll and a clown, a motor cycle and sidecar and another vintage car, all in what is not a large backstage area. On the plus side, the whole experience was greatly enhanced by some excellent video projections and lighting designed by Rohan Green and beautiful, colourful costumes throughout - except, of course, for those for the children in the scene in the sewer!

As regards the children, I am sure they all proved much easier to deal with, although the plot here means most of them have little to do until mid-way through the second act. Nevertheless, the yellow team at the performance I saw showed great enthusiasm and were superbly led by Eva Lofthouse and Lucas MacLeod in the much larger and important roles of Jemima and Jeremy Potts. They were supremely confident throughout with an excellent rapport with each other and with the rest of the cast, especially Caractacus and Truly, so that it was hard to believe that this was the first night and, in Lucas’s case, a stage debut. In contrast, Chris Cowling, in good form as the Baron, was appearing in his 143rd production and is due to receive his 50-year NODA medal soon. His partnership with the excellent Georgie Gladwyn as the child-hating Baroness made for several amusing scenes, including the “Bombi samba” and “Chu-chi face”. There are elements of pantomime in this show, with some scenes played in front-of-cloth reminiscent of many similar moments designed to discourage thoughts of what might be happening behind. We had the usual comedy duo, in this case the spies, Boris and Goran, a source of fun but the sort of parts which can often be played with rather too much silliness. Here Rohan Green and Rob Hastings were able to pitch their performances at just the correct level.

Gavin Mills had to age a few years but gave a convincing performance as the veteran military man, Grandpa Potts whilst Richard Hawley as Caractacus made an entirely credible widower father, devoted to his children yet revelling in circumstances which require him sometimes to become the mother of invention. Kate Griffiths impressed as Truly Scrumptious, a little feisty at first, becoming rather more demure as the story progressed and her reaction to the proposal in the final scene brought cheers from those around me. Jack Moran made the most of what were really quite brief appearances as the dreaded child-catcher with a strong sense of smell but these were sufficient to bring a response appropriate for the villain when it came to the curtain calls. Dan Stanford made a friendly toymaker despite earlier being the victim of a defective hair-cutting machine and Craig Kirby provided support in a variety of roles, including one of six apparently elderly inventors.  Age had not really wearied them, however, as they were still able to trip the light fantastic in “the Roses of Success”, although this might understandably be described as a little static when compared with much more lively numbers, especially “Me Ol’ Bamboo”, in which the ensemble clearly enjoyed Michael Kirkby’s stick-waving choreography with the backing of Jim Lunt’s fine orchestra.

The production team have another huge success here and it was rewarded with a response from an audience which, having been thoroughly well entertained by the hard work of all concerned, was keen to show its appreciation.  This is essentially a happy show and it was particularly good to see the pleasure enjoyed by so many children, even on a school night.

Noda Review - Terry Harrison