A possible dress-rehearsal for a production of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ put on by the Whitley Bay Pantomime Society taking place at the Playhouse Whitley Bay. The production features Linda Fergusson as ‘Princess Beauty’ and Lorna Ford as the ‘Prince’ and one of the company’s founder member Ernie Scorer as ‘King Hubert’. A darkened auditorium and stage with music coming from the orchestra pit. A spotlight darts about the stage picking up ‘Lilac Fairy’ played by Valarie Hopper standing on the left...

A possible dress-rehearsal for a production of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ put on by the Whitley Bay Pantomime Society taking place at the Playhouse Whitley Bay. The production features Linda Fergusson as ‘Princess Beauty’ and Lorna Ford as the ‘Prince’ and one of the company’s founder member Ernie Scorer as ‘King Hubert’. A darkened auditorium and stage with music coming from the orchestra pit. A spotlight darts about the stage picking up ‘Lilac Fairy’ played by Valarie Hopper standing on the left side of stage; she addresses the audience. The curtain is raised revealing a decorative stage and a chorus who perform the first dance routine followed by the arrival of the witch ‘Carabosse’ played by Sheena Dixon. The production continues with a number of song and dance routines as well as routines by Alan Douglas as the ‘Dame’ who introduces the audience to ‘Herman’, the brother of Kermit the Frog. He does a duet with Rowland Maughan who arrives on stage in the Tardis from Doctor Who. Following further scenes Rowland Maughan appears to address the audience and to sing ‘Away in a Manger’. He waves and leaves the stage as another routine starts, however the curtain falls again quickly following the failure of the background scenery which hasn’t lowered into position properly. The scenery repaired the routine begins again and the production continues without further incident. The production ends with the cast singing ‘Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead’ after which Rowland Maughan come back out to chat with four children who come up onto the stage. They chat before singing a song; the words for which hang down above the stage on a large placards. The children leave and he leads the audience is a rendition of the song. The curtains raise once more for a final dance routine after which the full cast come out to take a bow and to sing one final song. The cast wave as the curtain falls. The curtain is raised again as one of the cast, possibly the productions producer Steve Arnott, begins changing the positions of some of the dancers on stage. The curtain call is repeated once more with the dancers now taking their new final positions.