Encore Theatre’s Sleeping Beauty is a joyful, high-energy pantomime that delights its youngest audience members while celebrating the enduring power of community theatre. With 28 years of producing local productions, Encore Theatre clearly understands how to create theatre that is welcoming, playful and full of heart.
From the moment the curtain rose, the children in the audience were completely engaged. This production leans enthusiastically into the traditions of pantomime, inviting participation at every turn. Young theatregoers eagerly danced along with the characters onstage, shouted warnings, and reveled in the call-and-response moments that make pantomime such a thrill. The atmosphere in the theatre was lively and loud in the best possible way.
The villainous Arachne proved to be a highlight, drawing enthusiastic boos from the crowd whenever she appeared. In contrast, the heroic fairy godmothers, Princess Kate and Prince William were met with cheers, clapping and unwavering support from the audience. These clear character archetypes made it easy for children to follow the story and confidently join in, reinforcing the fun, interactive nature of the show.
While the production doesn’t aim for complexity, it doesn’t need to. Its strength lies in its sense of fun and inclusivity. The performers clearly relished engaging with the audience, and their energy helped sustain the excitement throughout the show. Laughter, movement and participation were constant, ensuring even the youngest audience members remained entertained. Sleeping Beauty is, above all, a good time. The children enjoyed themselves immensely, which is ultimately the measure of success for a pantomime of this kind.
Encore Theatre’s production is a fantastic introduction to live theatre for little ones, offering a positive, memorable first experience that encourages curiosity, confidence and a love of performance. For families seeking an entertaining and accessible theatre outing, this Sleeping Beauty delivers exactly what it promises.
Playing at Clayton in Melbourne 10-19 October 2025 with Encore Theatre. Written by Neil Anthony Docking. Directed by David Krause.
The play is set over the course of one evening, in a room above a pub, eight months after the 1966 Aberfan Disaster in Wales.
Much more than just a difficult story to tell. 116 children were killed (mostly aged 7 – 10) when a landslide engulfed their school. Teachers were taken with them and including some others the death toll total pulled out of this mining catastrophe at 144.
Heavy rain hit the region and a coal waste tip spilled down the hill in slurry to the town directly below. Exactly in its pathway was the Pantglas Junior School where 109 children fell victim of a chronic example in poor decision making and grossly ignored warnings. The National Coal Board were found to have been extremely negligent in its handling of the coal tips, built on unstable ground and known to be on top of springs.
‘The Revlon Girl’ is about a group of local women tragically having lost their child or children in the devastating occurrence and also having grown up together themselves. They organise a ‘Revlon’ make-up representative to come out to see them at one of their get-togethers for some uplifting ‘beauty tips’. She arrives in a fancy car and brings her product samples of new colours and shiny lipsticks along with friendly education of how to look and feel better, but can these things actually make a difference? These women are going through what no mother should ever have to endure.
The play opens with pictures from the actual event, video and sombering sound effects, so anyone watching can clearly visualize and feel in the pit of their stomach that awful day. However, gratefully, it isn’t long before little funny moments too are presented in the script and such continues all the way through the play, bringing welcome lightheartedness reprieve from serious darkness.
Perfectly cast, the personalities of the women are all very different; it appears that Sian is organised and more positive, Rona is loud and overpowering, Jean holds onto the power of prayer, Marilyn is delicate and showing intense grief. ‘The Revlon girl’ is just there trying to make a difference in whatever way she can; after donating to the disaster memorial fund, she volunteered with the company to visit the women – beauty cases in tow, but Charlotte’s own story of loss will come to be told amongst the bereavement later.
Though we immediately know that Marilyn is still suffering immensely as she uneasily steps into the room, it quickly becomes apparent that all these mothers, having been dealt the same tragic experience, are dealing with the event’s aftermath as best they can, whilst trying to be supportive to each other. They do not agree on everything, they have different perspectives on what is now important and what should be done, but they all tell a story of their child/ren, the hopes they had for them, their very special and unforgettable memories that will never leave their hearts or minds.
Watching this play as a mother myself was challenging at times; the acting of all women is very real and each character has both tenderness and fierceness that every mother can empathize with – hopefully we never experience to this velocity. You send your children to school and they don’t come home. Nothing would hit you faster and harder.
It is no wonder that Marilyn still waits for her two girls to come home (the way that line was delivered will stay with me). No surprise that Rona does not want to queue for anything anymore after waiting in line for an eternity to view her son’s body. It is confusing to Jean as to why God has given her another baby on the way (a ‘surprise’ conceived just before the disaster), but took the one she wanted. Sian wants another baby, she wants her husband to look at her again, to share again, to love again.
These women all miss their beloveds more than they’ll ever verbally be able to express. The play shows how much and how differently they cope, but they do cope, they do help one another. It’s NOT just lipstick!
The play is set in a simple one room scene; couch, chairs, pictures and a leaky skylight causing some concern (rainwater understandably heightens anxiety here), though I barely noticed what was around the well-designed stage set and in the accurate costuming of 60s clothing in detail, because the actual grit story being told by these excellent actresses is one I couldn’t take my attention away from. You may want to sometimes, but I doubt you can. It’s an important message on top of the actual happening, and an honour to have produced in the memory of all those lost and the parents and loved ones left behind.
All in all, I highly recommend!
Cast: Bella Barker as Revlon Keziah Gillam as Rona Kate Lawson as Marilyn Emma Spencer as Sian Kelly Williams as Jean
Venue: Clayton Theatrette, 9-15 Cooke St, Clayton. Easy parking and access for wheelchairs. Running time: 90 mins (no interval) Tea and Coffee is served after the show and this group are always up for a chat about how the show was decided upon, set put together and worked on – they are a lovely bunch of people and anyone can be involved doing something on their excellent productions: https://encoretheatre.com.au/get-involved/
Note: This production includes themes of child loss and grief. If you have lost a child and require support, please reach out: https://projexj.org/ https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
A hilarious spoof of Agatha Christie’s classic whodunits, written by Cenarth Fox and directed by David Dodd.
In the south-west of England soon after World War 1, the unknown writer, Agatha Crispie, pens mystery stories. In vain she longs for their publication. Agatha’s family despise her writing and ridicule her plots. Agatha gets a lucky break. A body is found in the library. The police arrive as does a grey-haired, cardigan-wearing spinster with a knack for solving crimes. Suddenly the pressure is too much. Agatha disappears. Then a dapper foreigner appears. He too has a knack for solving mysteries. Then a Scotland Yard detective makes a surprise entrance. There is a dead body, a suspect or three, amateur sleuths, red herrings and dithering cops. It’s just like the life and characters of another scribbler, the slightly better-known Agatha Christie. There are surprises, mystery, drama, humour and that infernal, eternal mousetrap!
Once, I had read the promo I could not possibly miss this one. I grew up with my Mum reading an Agatha Christie mystery every chance she got and our holiday house literally had an entire bookshelf dedicated to the famous writer – who is noted on the program tonight as only outsold by Shakespeare and the Bible! Whether or not that is true to date, I’m thinking to myself no wonder my Mum loved her mysteries. I have read over the years those same books and have eagerly seen all the related movies and series’, so I’m fairly familiar going into this play with knowledge of the murderous titles and there are many cleverly interwoven references to the books in this play, including that body in the library.
‘Agatha’ played by Catherine Christensen is wonderful. Yearning to become a published writer in this story, she must convince her husband ‘Archibald’ played strongly and funnily by Neil Barnett, to let her continue to work on her writing or she must find a way to be rid of him and his family so that she can write her mysteries in peace and without the constant put down of Neil’s mother, ‘Lavinia’ played sternly well by Kerry Hollier.
Equal in putting down Agatha is the daughter of Archibald and step-daughter of Agatha, ‘Elvira’ played by Bel Shields – she is so entertaining! Absolutely loved watching her either as the main stage character when she had the floor or on the side; her mannerisms, voice, and everything else about her was a spot on stuck up Daddy’s girl wanting only the best for herself in society. Will she get it? Her ‘divorce’ scene was impeccably delivered.
I highly praise Rob Coulson as ‘Dithering’. It was easy to see he’s been doing this acting thing for quite a while as soon as he entered the room and delved fully into his character; he was very enjoyable to watch and reminded me of my Pop.
The set is fantastic. You feel like you stepped into the pages where Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple might lay down their reasoning on the suspect murderer, but here we will see the excellent dramatization skills of Gilbert Gauci playing ‘Hercule Grey-Cells’ and Mandy Vicsai as ‘Mary Mead’. I found it hard to believe that Mandy is a newbie to the world of acting, she was perfect in her role, as was Gilbert with his magnifying glass out sleuthing to themed music whilst everyone else was out of the murder scene room.
Outstanding casting on all characters, but my favourite was undeniably ‘Pimms’ played by Annie Laurenson. Annie’s comical timing is excellent and she seemed to feed even more into her character off the audience reactions; her performance throughout the show just got better and better right to the end punchline (which is a hoot!).
If you love Agatha Christie, you MUST SEE this show.
Congratulations to the cast and the hard working production team because yes, it is definitely as you promote: a fast-paced mystery-comedy filled with witty dialogue and outrageous characters, a clever parody of Agatha Christie’s famous detectives— perfect for fans of classic whodunits, and certainly an experience of intrigue, humour, and theatrical fun!
Venue: Clayton Community Centre Theatrette 9-15 Cooke Street, Clayton Vic. This is a very comfortable small theatre so don’t worry where you sit, you can see great from all the seats and it has wheelchair access. There is heaps of parking and the welcoming Encore volunteers served us free tea, coffee, biscuits and a glass of sherry at interval.
Playing: 18 – 27 July 2025 with some sold out shows already!
You can find out more about the lovely ENCORE THEATRE group via:
