King Cedric VII of Entertania (Matt Sleath) commands Lord
Chancellor Fusspot (Richard Pamment) to organise a christening
for the baby princess Aurora.
All the fairies in the land were invited, including the
good fairy Azuriel (Vanessa Vicars).
But unfortunately the Queen forgot to invite one fairy,
the wicked Carabosse (Sue Blackburn) who, enraged at being
forgotten, crashed the party anyway.
Carabosse put a curse on the baby - "When you are sixteen
you will injure yourself with a spindle and die!".
Fusspot has his worked cut out to keep the palace together
But he is distracted by the court jester Tickles' (Neil
Smith) new inventions - such as electric toast - just plug
in and eat!
And Tickles can't find a sympathetic ear, even from Dame
Ammonia Goodbody (Dave Bridger) to whom he is less than
willingly betrothed!
Tickles' real love is the beautiful Princess Aurora (Chloe
Lovett), now sixteen, and he gives her a present to celebrate.
But Princesses marry Princes and along comes Prince Valiant
(Michele Rimmer) of Euphoria, the richest kingdom in all
the world.
The Princess falls in love immediately... but little did
she know it had all been a dream, for she wouldn't actually
meet Prince Valiant for 100 years!
She confides in Fusspot - but can't explain where Prince
Valiant disappeared to?
Queen Semolina (Wiggy Smith) wants the best for her daughter's
birthday...
...but the evil witch Carabosse tricks her away and gets
her to prick her finger on a spinning wheel to fulfil her
curse.
Luckily Azuriel changed the curse so that the Princess would
fall asleep instead of dying, only to awake when kissed
by the one she loves. Azuriel then puts the rest of the
palace to sleep as well so that they would all wake up together.
Carabosse is thwarted by Azuriel.
However, Ammonia is not prepared to wait 100 years and makes
use of the one useful thing Tickles ever invented - a time
machine - to go forward 100 years to find Prince Valiant
and take him back to kiss the sleeping princess (confused
yet?).
Accompanying Ammonia on the quest are the two bungling court
heralds, Shout (Barbara Cox) and Bawl (Felicity Dyndor).
Incredibly the quest is successful and the Prince can return
to the palace
Will Ammonia finally credit Tickles for his invention?
The triumphant Prince returns to Entertania and wakens the
Princess.
Dame Ammonia has saved everyone having to sit on little
chairs in the school hall for 100 years!
Prince Valiant even takes time to thank Bawl for helping.
Good always triumphs over evil and the wicked witch Carabosse
is eventually slain by Azuriel.
Tickles and Ammonia wonder whether they are 100 years in
the past or 100 years in the future - or both!
But in any time zone the whole cast took a well deserved
curtain call.
Superb music for the Panto was supplied by Helmdon's latest
band - the Dung Beatles!
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