Classic pantomime enjoyed

A CLASSIC children's story morphed into a charming pantomime at the Masterton Town Hall yesterday for an appreciative audience of more than 200.
The Wairarapa Federation of Women's Institutes hosted two other federations for its area drama festival, a competition that saw women take to the stage in a flurry of colours in anticipation of the trophies and prestige that winning the finals would bring.
The Wairarapa federation took the limelight second with a colourful rendition of Cinderella with a cast of 10 and piano accompaniment by Noelene Evans.
The show was written and directed by Rayellen Chisholm.
Central Hawke's Bay federation were up first with their performance of Many Moons and Hutt Valley finished off the performance with Carry on Courting.
Yvonne Hocken, of Feilding, judged yesterday's festival and carries on to Nelson tomorrow and Timaru on Thursday ? she said the onus is on entertainment and "hopefully a lot of audience participation".
"It's a pantomime so therefore everyone should be involved because that's part and parcel of the fun of a pantomime," she said.
"I'm looking for obviously an overall performance, music, dance, costuming, audience participation, but overall a full package of entertainment."
National drama convener Lorraine Miles said she decided Masterton was a good town to host the event because it is central to the federations that sent entries in.
"It also gives Masterton people a chance to see something different," she said.
She said she was hoping for a good crowd at Masterton Town Hall yesterday, and busloads of audience members from Hawke's Bay, Palmerston North, the Hutt Valley and Kapiti almost filled the area set aside for the show.
A rough head count put numbers at more than 200.
The area drama festival continues with the Nelson federation tomorrow, and three federations at Timaru on Thursday, and once the results are tallied the top areas will compete at the Gisborne AGM in July.
The national winner gets a rose bowl and runner-up a smaller prize, and the best actress trophy is also up for grabs.
Mrs Miles said the women's institutes stage a performance annually by alternating between three disciplines each year ? pantomime, musical and choral.