© 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.
2024: The Four Mousketeers
We’re pleased to report that the 31st Barkway Pantomime
performed by the Barkway Players was a success, with two
of our three performances sold out.
The show was called “The Four Mousketeers”, and was
based on the idea that Barkway was a centre of
cheesemaking. Who will forget Madam Cheddar, her aging
assistant Pa Miggiano, and her lovely daughter Minnie
Cheddar? It was their job to grapple with and the baddie
Gordon Zola, as he and his henchmen tried to steal the
prize cheese, the Barkway Blue, and make a fortune with it.
Meanwhile, the audience was transfixed by a tug of love.
Would Minnie Cheddar be forced into a loveless marriage
with Prince Wensleydale, or would she be free to marry the
love of her life, the amiable and handsome village
handyman, Hal Loumi?
Alongside the four Mousketeers, who worked in the
creamery, we met Buttercup the Cow, lots of little mice
forming the Mouses of Parliament – and even the man in
the moon.
It’s safe to say it was an original show.
The show raised over £1,300 for the village hall, not
including a tidy investment in a new LED follow-spot.