All Saints’ Dramatic Society 
Life Centre, Winton 
Philip & Julie McStraw 
08 January 2026
The pantomime season has been in full swing since November and a trip to a local panto can be especially enjoyable during January when things have a tendency to go a bit flat after the frantic activity and excitement of the Christmas and New Year festivities. This year’s offering from ASDS is the evergreen favourite: Puss in Boots!
Even before film star Antonio Banderas brought ‘Puss’ into the world as part of the Shrek franchise, pretty much everyone, young and old, knew the story about a clever booted cat with humanlike characteristics and personality, who uses trickery and deception to obtain influence and wealth. But did you know, as with many British pantomimes, Puss in Boots actually originates from further afield? The essence of the story was in fact borrowed from a European fairy tale dating from the middle-ages. Which just goes to show that a good story transcends the ages and national boundaries!
Of course, one of the great things about British pantomimes is that they rarely stick to the traditional story line but are reimagined with every telling, in order to remain fresh and often quite original. Added to that there must be lots of familiar songs, characters with silly names (‘Dame Hettie Quette’ is just one example here), a succession of panto catchphrases and funny lines sprinkled with risqué innuendo, topical content and old chestnuts. All designed to produce lots of groans and laughter from the audience. All of these ingredients are present in bucket loads in this ASDS production. However, on this opening night the performance was affected by gremlins in the sound system, especially during the opening scenes, and some of the acting and line delivery was a little hesitant at times, which impacted on the flow of the dialogue and action. However, it’s highly likely the technical issues will be smoothed out with each subsequent performance. Indeed, judged by the enthusiastic reaction of the audience, no one else really paid close attention to any of this, or if they did it didn’t matter, because after all mayhem and confusion is the essence of a good pantomime, isn’t it?
The venue was once the Modern Cinema and has been revamped in recent years to become an impressive theatre (now mainly used for evangelical church services). The main auditorium contains a large spacious proscenium stage and on first appearances the physical scenery looked small and sparse, but the smart use of projected story-book images onto the rear wall and painted mobile screens on the stage floor, that were quickly changed with every scene, soon brought it all to life and provided a delightful setting for the show. The production team have done a good job with this and their hard work has paid off.
The talented Renee Claude stood out in her performance of Puss and her lithe costume and headdress was absolutely ‘purrfect’ – she looked and played the part with aplomb! Apart from that she is also the Choreographer and produced the show programme and poster. Jon Cockeram played the part of Dame Hettie Quette and was loud and brash, with a succession of equally loud and brash costumes, as befits a ‘Pantomime Dame’. The role of the villain, Lord Roger, is well played by Alan Lodge and he too looked and acted the part. He also provided the chilling voice of the evil Ogre, who is heard but not seen. The other lead roles were played by Georgie Drake, as Jack, Eleanor Perry, as Princess Alice, and Rhianna Au-Webb, as the Narrator, and they all acquitted themselves well. The same is true for the rest of the cast, who are too many in number to mention individually. That said we must mention the youngsters in the Junior Chorus, Pandora Drake, Arwen Fassinger and Dolly Lagan, who were absolutely delightful and were especially cute hopping around the stage as woodland rabbits.
ASDS have been around since 1951 and have an impressive Production History – they can now add Puss in Boots to that long list!
