By Lewis Barnes S6

True to form this year’s S6 pantomime was performed to the School on the last day of term, Friday 21st December. Based largely on the popular fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, “Sleeping Boot” followed the turbulent and amusing upbringing of King Hector’s daughter, Boot (Elliot Sinclair) as she tried to escape the wrath of the three witches: “McNabba” (Derek Salmond), “Welto” (Simon Donne) and “Barness” (Sandy Jones), who were of course entirely fictional characters.

The witches relied on a kiss from the hapless “Prince Charmless” (Eric Ainslie) at Boot’s 18th Birthday Party to send the Princess into a deep sleep. As the hilarious “King Hector”(Craig Denham) and his “Queen” (Mary Robb) fretted about their daughter’s unconscious condition various characters such as a juggler (Glynn Eggar) a singer (Asma Bensaad) and Charlie’s Angels (Rachel Tremmel, Rea Graham and Jane Anderson) tried but failed to wake her. It was left to the James Bond look-alike, “Charming, Prince Charming” (Ben Macpherson) to wake her before discovering a disturbing secret about the Princess’s gender.

Smoothly narrated by a drunken mother (Susan Jack) and her irritating child (Lewis Barnes) and with timely interventions from the Rugby lads, Chamberpot Neil (Martin Robertson), a group of vegetables and Peter Dickson on a tricycle (???) the performance kept the audience amused throughout.

Congratulations to all of the cast on their tireless work at both the lunch-time and after school rehearsals; and to Hannah Cockburn, Caroline Alexander and the rest of the back stage crew who helped make the show so enjoyable for everyone involved. Special thanks are due to Aimee McLaughlan and Imogen Ibbett who narrated and directed the pantomime and put so much work into the production.