The hilarious and brilliant pantomime ‘Rapunzel’ swept the board for the Silverdale Village Players at a special National Opera and Drama Association (NODA) awards ceremony on the 16 th February at the Abbey House Hotel in Barrow. NODA is the national body that supports amateur theatre and the ceremony in Barrow included 2023 pantomimes staged in Northwest District 11, which includes Lancaster, Garstang, Barrow-in-Furness, South Lakeland, Lunesdale and Ulverston.

‘Rapunzel’, written by Silverdale Village Player Rachael Shone, won ‘Best Pantomime’ with Rachael also winning ‘Best Director.’ Set in the ‘Hair We Go’ beauty salon, this unique and quirky version of ‘Rapunzel’ included ingenious mechanical props, talking and dancing cats, giant headlice, a reveal of Rapunzel ‘letting down her hair’ as a side-splitting puppet show, and a brilliant team of ‘Nitbusters’ (aka the Silverdale Knit and Natter group). The panto ran for four nights, and all performances sold out prior to the performances. The award winners now go forward to Blackpool on the 5 th May to compete for the NODA Northwest Region awards.

‘Rapunzel’ received nine nominations and five top awards from NODA:

  • Best Supporting Performance in a Pantomime: Pete Rushton (Martin Mullet)
  • Best Pantomime Dame: John Auckland (Betty Bouffant)
  • Best Leading Performance in a Pantomime: Emily Bodenham (Rapunzel)
  • Best Pantomime
  • Best Director of a Pantomime: Rachael Shone

Nominations that narrowly missed gaining an award included:

  • Best Male Character Performance: Andrew Bodenham (Major Comb-Over)
  • Best Pantomime Villain: Kathy Talbot (Itchiwig)
  • Best Choreographer of a Pantomime: Rachael Shone
  • Best Musical Director of a Pantomime: Rachael Shone
Rapunzel: Pete Rushton as Martin Mullet, Emile Bodenham as Rapunzel, and John Auckland as Betty Bouffant
Salon with John Auckland as Betty Bouffant and Pete Rushton as Martin Mullet
Rapunzel award winners: Pete Rushton, Rachael Shone, Emily Bodenham and John Auckland

The next performance by the Silverdale Village Players is the comedy ‘A Bunch of Amateurs’ on the 19th and 20th April at The Gaskell Hall, Silverdale. Written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, it tells the story of fading Hollywood action hero Jefferson Steele, who arrives in England to play King Lear at Stratford, only to find that this is not the birthplace of Shakespeare, but a sleepy Suffolk village. Instead of appearing with famous British actors, the cast are ‘a bunch of amateurs’ trying to save their theatre from developers. Tickets are on sale at the Silverdale Pharmacy, Emesgate Lane from the 23rd March.

Source: Elizabeth Unsworth, Silverdale Village Players