© Barkway Players 2022
2017: Return to Oz
As the Players marked 25 consecutive years of
Barkway pantomimes, the 2017 show offered a
nod to the very first production in the series,
given in 1993. Return to Oz featured Dorothy, the
Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion in
a new and original adventure narrated by the
Good Fairy, Barbara. With the Wizard away on
his travels, who could stop Voldemort and his
rather dotty witchy mother dominating Oz and ruling it with a evil rod
of iron? Enter the Munchkin Defence Force - MDF for short - who
seemed to bear a certain resemblance to a well-known television
comedy about the Home Guard. As Dorothy and
the friends set off on their quest to find the Wiz
and bring him back to Oz, they meet some
familiar characters including three mermaids,
Cinderella’s ugly sisters and three kings - yes,
those three kings - and a young man celebrating
his 9 and three-quarter-th birthday. Another fun
and happy show to mark this milestone year.
This year the panto raised £2,555 - another
excellent fundraising success.
2023: Shriek! The Musical
For our landmark 30th season, the Players ventured into
hitherto untried territory: horror. And much of the run-up to
the show was spent reassuring the audience that the
monsters, ghoulies and ghosties were really quite friendly.
Dr Frankenstein in his lab created a
monster that was more than he
bargained for. As if that wasn’t
problem enough, the visit of Drusilla
the Vampire piled on trouble for the
Doctor.
Would poor, innocent Derek
manage to hit it off with lovely Holly Wood? What would
become of the four resident ghosts? Would the heroes
manage to negotiate the land of the evil Empress and her
Biscuity Guards? You had to be there to find out, and as
usual the pantomime played to packed houses.
It raised some £2,100 for the village hall.