Castle Players 
Lytchett Matravers Village Hall
Michelle Barter 
23 January 2026
Despite only living a few miles away I have never encountered the Castle Players, whose home is the Village Hall in Lytchett Matravers, and I hope now to turn up again some time. I was greeted by jovial front of house crew who were friendly and chatty which is lovely when you’ve no idea what the deal is for the set up of the village hall for a show. I discovered the bar for refreshments, always a joy! I had a read of my very well put together program, someone should be proud to take credit for it. I bought my raffle ticket in support of the players and settled down into my seat. There were only a handful of children in attendance in the auditorium at this, the first performance of the run, but that hardly mattered as the adults were just as loud.
The pantomime is a smash up of Little Red Riding Hood with Three Little Pigs, but other characters such as Hansel and Gretel pop up too which makes sense as it’s all based around a wood which of course where Grandma lives. There are lots and lots of ‘in’ jokes based around the village of Lytchett Matravers which were popular with the local audience. All of the panto baddies centre around some shoddy property development where building houses from straw, sticks or even gingerbread is a way to get rich quick all under the watchful eye of the Big Bad Wolf. The pantomime itself is from the creative brain of Phil McMullen who wrote and directed the production which I enjoyed very much.
The stage itself is very minimal, much more black box than the glitz and glamour of backdrops with flashy lights. I personally don’t mind this, as it rather gives the actors nowhere to hide so all the creativity must come from them, and Castle Players didn’t disappoint.
There are some new actors to the company which appear in the panto; Debora Hornsby who plays Robin the love interest of Red gave a great performance and she looked like she was having a wonderful time. Jasmine Lloyd, playing Little Red Riding Hood, has joined the company for panto and has a beautiful singing voice. Sharon White, another newbie to Castle Players has done a great job with being half of a baddie comedy duo, Bodgeit, with Nikki Cross as the other half, Makedo. Nikki also holds the credit for choreography, and I thought the chase scene choreography was spot on; great job! Susan Boakes makes her Castle Players debut as the Witch with her punchy singing and wand wielding spells. Sophie Brackenborough, featuring as Oopsie, appears in her first show with the Players and manages multiple characters well with comic effect.
I enjoyed the comic endeavours of Beverley Smith as Sellit, who has the timing spot on, allowing the audience the laugh before she moves onto the next set up; she has the calm of a professional. As does Pete Bennet who plays the dreaded Health & Safety official, Smithers. In fact, all of the cast members who have trod the boards have clearly learnt their craft; they also play beautifully with one another too, acting as a team.
There are a number of young people in the cast who all deserve a mention; it’s not an easy task to put yourself on a stage and actually ask to be ridiculed but they were all completely marvellous, not a foot wrong, not a word out of place. I hope they continue down the road of the arts because they all have a talent for it.
Do come and see this lovely production, if you don’t well then … Boooo!
