Goldilocks and the Four Bears

Goldilocks and the Four Bears community pantomime presented by The Henley in Arden Drama Society (HADS) at Henley Memorial Hall from 18 – 21 December 2025.  Directed by Laurence Marshall.

Review by Ashley Hayward

This was my first visit to the annual Henley in Arden pantomime and on arrival you could tell from the warm welcoming atmosphere that it was eagerly awaited by the local community. It was a complete sell out and HADS had even laid on an additional performance to meet the heavy demand for tickets.

All the essential ingredients of a successful panto were certainly there in abundance in this highly entertaining and colourful production. The imaginative and witty script is loosely based on the original fairytale, but we do get an extra baby bear thrown in for good measure!

Under the direction of Laurence Marshall, the audience are treated to a variety of catchy songs all performed very tunefully and there is no shortage of gags, puns and slapstick comedy together with some neat and clever choreography.

The main characters – the goodies, the baddy, and the comedic - all give outstanding performances and the script provides plenty of opportunities for audience participation.

Sheena Ison makes a particularly sinister pantomime villain as she plays Greta Grimm, the horrible circus owner, with considerable gusto. She is more than ably assisted by the obnoxious Snivel played by Pauline Gunton. As with all the actors you get the feeling that the baddies were relishing and enjoying it every bit as much as the audience.

Every panto needs a Dame and here Justin Osborne does the considerable honours starring as the splendidly named Clarissa Clutterbuck, decked out in several outlandish costumes whilst trading insults with her/his simple but lovable assistant Silly Billy (Simon MacDonald) whose main ambition in life is to become a circus clown.

Amanda Steward successfully manages to be the ‘Principal Boy’ character as Rocco the handsome ring master whilst Joan MacDonald stars as the innocent, attractive and loving young Goldilocks. Rocco has a rival for Goldilocks’ affections in the form of Squire Hectare for whom Peter Glaze gives a splendid interpretation of the rather shady and easily corruptible landlord.

Certainly, the favourite cast members amongst the children in the audience were the lovable Four Bears played by David Hill, Claire Mangan, Lynda Marshall and Manjit Dosanjh. They all gave excellent performances both orally and with their movements.

The children seemed really enthralled by the story but there was also plenty of innuendos and double entendres in the script which went down very well the adults as did several references to local places and people.

The main cast were ably assisted by the very talented support actors and chorus as well as the stage crew who provided some very slick scene changes, super costumes, lively music and choreography and even some pyrotechnics.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening’s entertainment and I would imagine that all the families in attendance are already looking forward to Treasure Island in 2026!

Further details please go to:  https://www.hads.org.uk/panto/