Lynda has dug out her script from the last time Sleeping Beauty was performed in Ambridge. I can only admire Lynda’s impeccable filing because the production dates back to the early 1990s. What’s more it nearly never happened…
Initially Lynda wanted to put on an improvised Sleeping Beauty with a European feel (at the time there were French visitors in Ambridge) but unsurprisingly it didn’t work. So, Lynda set about writing a Sleeping Beauty panto.
After a row over the Christmas Concert that Lynda was planning to run concurrently with the Sleeping Beauty production, Lynda announced that the pantomime was cancelled! Instead, Jill and Clarrie took up the reins for the Christmas Concert, thankfully saving Ambridge from being bereft of a festive performance.
Lynda’s Sleeping Beauty did see the light of day a few months later in March 1994. It was performed as a fundraiser and a village rallier after the death of Mark Hebden. It got five curtain calls and Lynda was proud of all of the cast.
Backstage gossip
• Helen auditioned to be Sleeping Beauty – Tony said it was only because she wouldn’t have any lines – Lynda thought she was rubbish
• Bert was deserving of a most versatile actor award for playing Dame Swaddle and the King
• Joe was the front end of Daisy the pantomime cow. Betty and Marjorie persuaded Lynda to be the back end
• Emma, Chris, Brenda and Mo’s daughter Becky took part in the children’s dance number, Dance of the Snowflakes (though Brenda would have preferred to do a rap)
• At rehearsal Bert broke the spinning wheel which was a family heirloom lent by Jennifer
• After watching the dress rehearsal together, Mo - keen to make her advances on Neil - put her arm around him (Susan was in prison at the time)
