No villain is spared in Longford Backstage Youth Theatre's 'The Spare Prince'

The Backstage Youth Theatre enjoyed a very successful run with ‘The Spare Prince’ (January, 23-25; January, 30-31), exploring its members’ talent in the pantomime genre. Packed out with families and friends of the young cast, the audience was engaged with responding to the plot’s progression, which brought plenty of excitement to the younger demographic.

‘The Spare Prince’ began upon receiving the invitation to the ball, or as known in this, the “Royal Rave”. Akin to the traditional ‘Cinderella’ story, Cinderella (Emilie Valatkaite) is taunted and belittled by the family who took her in, the Uglis (deliberately pronounced as “Oo-gly”). The story is faithful to the original fairy tale, but includes some reimagined modern songs to give the performance more of a contemporary touch. With the help of the clumsy Fairly Godmother (Margel Tuyogon), who is being examined by Carrie Clipboard (Eily Patrice Tuyogon) for her full godmother status, the story proceeds to how Cinderella meets the Spare Prince (Mark Wijas), to the fitting of the slipper.

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Culann Fitzgerald embodies a character who is anything but charming. His introductory scene erupted laughs as he flung his Spare Prince brother aside to get the on-stage attention. Overly mothered, whinging and entitled, Prince Charming and the Queen (Mia O’Connor), manage to endeavour in being the cunning, power hungry villains who later get their comeuppances. Aodhán Reid’s limping, GAA-loving King proves to, in the end, favour his Spare Prince who has often been seen as invisible.

Although it follows the general story of ‘Cinderella’ for its basis, it is the aftermath that really has the fun. From the Uglis intending on sabotaging the wedding of Cinderella and the Spare Prince, to the palace’s haunted hallway that is intended to kill the protagonists as they make way to the registrar, the writer, Brendan Williams, clearly got creative with expanding the plot to bring a traditional happily ever after. Paul Higgins’ detailed and inventive directing gave this performance the quality that would be found in nationally recognised pantomime production venues.

The two highlights of the production which really shone were the Royal Rave and the Uglis’ depictions. The Rave, which had a buffet table and royal crests of: a chicken, a skunk, fish and bags of money, added to the comedy. The stage design had a centred throne with a Border Collie beside it, a buffet table to the right and a harpsichord to the left which managed to play some very heavy-bass electronic dance music after a medieval, off-key performance by an instrumental trio.

Conor Delaney’s Mrs Ugli was a shining performance, and he managed to deliver on every scene he was in, from pickpocketing food at the rave, to his dancing, or shouting for his daughters, to lamenting about Mrs Ugli’s husband who is still in prison, named Donald Elon Musk Trump. Alongside Sasha Donoghue (Anastasia) and Alice Farrell (Drizella), the trio, although antagonistic, were a delightful set of actors who gave the pantomime that quirky dynamic.

Like all fairytales, regardless of if they are contemporised, ‘The Spare Prince’ reaches a happy ending for the leading heroes of the story.

The Spare Prince becomes king as his father decides to abdicate there and then; Cinderella vows to be a dedicated princess; the Queen and Prince Charming are imprisoned for treachery; and the Uglis get their comeuppances by becoming cleaners of the palace.

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Paul Higgins, the director, commented:

The Backstage Youth Theatre is continuing to foster the talents of these Longford rising stars, who are all showing plenty of promise with their future in drama.