Tales from the Woods

By Luke Graham

The amateur dramatic society Colehill Music and Drama (Co.MaD) have been performing pantomimes every year since 1999 except for during the pandemic. This pedigree was on full display in February during their run of an original panto, ‘Tales from the Woods’.

Set in a village inhabited by several fairytale and nursery rhyme characters such as Hansel, Gretal, Bo Peep and Goldilocks, this pantomime was delightful. There was plenty of laughter and fun audience interaction, though I wasn’t expecting to get squirted by a water gun during a game of Simon Says.

John Bounds was particularly entertaining as the Dame, with his colourful wig getting bigger and bigger with each scene. KD Johnson was a hoot as the evil Baron Wolfheart.

The four-year-old Junior Editor who came with me gave the show a ringing endorsement, rating it as “really fun” and saying: “It was so good, I didn’t want it to end.”

Bravo to the whole cast and crew, especially Pam Mizon for her direction and script.