Access
This is a description of the set, props, characters, costumes and some of the main actions in the show.
For those attending the show in person there will be a touch tour one hour before the performance, and during this an opportunity to take a closer look at, or to feel parts of the set, and some examples of the props and costumes in the show.
Super Power Panto runs for about an hour and has lots of the visual elements described within the performance, or made clear for visually impaired audiences through the way we have staged the show. So, there is no need for anyone to wear headsets.
The Set
The performance space is 5m by 5m. It is surrounded by a line of white rubber matting about half a meter wide with jig-saw edging.
The performance space is empty, but at the back of the stage there is a big black metal frame that looks like an outline of an up-right open book. In this stands a huge closed comic book, on the right of the frame, here. It has the Super Power Panto publicity image covering it of a blue glove holding a white cane, bursting out of the pages of a comic book.
On the left side of the frame, here, it is blank for now with a glittery silver back drop. When the book is opened during the show, the open page will fill this whole area which measures 2.1m high and 2.4m wide.
On either side of the book are yellow curtains covered in red, blue and green lines shooting in all directions.
During the show the book’s big pages will be turned to reveal different locations like The City, Centre Point Park, The Observatory and the kitchen.
Each page has cartoon style drawings and objects to represent these settings. They also have pop out pieces and tactile objects to make them stand out more. For instance there are pop out buildings in the city with lights behind the windows; a tactile hill in the park; lots of knobs and buttons in the observatory with a work desk that stands out; and plants and pots and pans on the kitchen wall, with a fridge door that opens out.
On each page, all the colours are bright and colourful, apart from the city, which is in black and white. The park has bright green grass with pink flowers, a bright blue sky and huge yellow sun. The observatory has lots of bright multicoloured cogs and buttons all over the walls and desk, with the deep blue sky showing through its many windows above, and lots of stars shining outside. The kitchen is a feast of colour with bubble gum pink walls, an orange fridge, green oven, yellow cupboards and purple counters. There is also a lovely wonky clock on the wall with purple numbers all in the wrong order on its white face.
One of the main props used in the show is a huge telescope which is wheeled on and off. The telescope itself is a long red tube about 1m long, is narrow at one end and very wide at the other, with dark yellow rings circling it at various points. It sits on top of a tall stand which is 5 feet high, covered in dark blue velvet with gold stars and moons.
There are some other props that appear in the show, like a huge yellow beach ball that is used for the sun, a football, and some yellow sponge tennis balls. Also there are some glittery yellow rubber gloves, glittery cloths and orange feather dusters.
At a couple of moments in the show a full-length white cut-out rectangle is brought on to frame a character while they sing.
The Characters
There are 5 actors in the show playing 9 characters. These are:
Sally Sense who is a young girl. Sally is of Chinese heritage, is slim and has long black hair in two bunches, wearing a pale-yellow flouncy dress. It has a blue lightning flash across her chest and some other blue sparks and stars across the rest of it. She has long white sleeves and long white socks up to her knees.
Yin and Yang are two astronomers and are played by a male white actor and a female white actor. They both wear blue boiler suit uniforms, with planet and star badges running up the sleeves and legs, and their suits have bright orange stripes on the shoulders. Yang has a big green furry star on her bottom and wears a big green curly wig with lots of planets popping out around it. Yin has a big red star on their back and wears a large curly red wig with lots of stars popping out around their hair.
The Brat Pack are three rich young kids who are played by two male white actors, one shorter and the other taller, and one female mixed heritage actor. They present as boys and wear matching green blazers with red shirts underneath and matching straw boater hats. They all wear grey shorts as well, however Audius has a pair of gold headphones and red long socks. Stench has a pair of glasses with a small moustache and a huge gold jewelled nose ring and long yellow socks. Palmer has shiny gold gloves and wears long blue socks.
There are another set of three characters and these are the Blackbirds. They all wear feathery black capes that open like wings, with orange beaked headdresses. They are Flapper, Pecker, and Bomber.
Finally, there is Sally’s mum who is played by a tall plus-sized actor wearing a patterned blue dress over which they wear a purple cleaner overall, blue silky head wrap, and yellow rubber gloves.
Action in the Show
During the show there is a magical clean up scene in the kitchen that will be described. However, just to help a bit more with this it’s good to note that while Sally sweeps, lots of pairs of her hands come out in yellow rubber gloves to clean the rest of the kitchen around her. Some of the objects, like the broom and gloves are picked out in UV light which makes them glow and there is a flickering scattered lighting effect over everything during this scene.
There is a traditional pantomime chase scene that takes place at another point, where all the actors will be on stage running in a circle chasing each other, changing direction, swinging each other around, running in pairs, running on the spot and throwing the big beach ball sun around between them. At one point Audius brings on the telescope and uses it as a gun.
At the very end of the show the cast sing and dance to a song where they do lots of actions which include:
Crossing their arms in front of their body and stamping their feet; having one hand stretched out as if to stop something; pointing to themselves with their thumb; making a big arc above their head with one arm.
They will ask you to join in and do actions like making a shooting star pointing one finger up high, clawing your hands like a tiger and driving a racing car. You can do any actions you like to the words of the song, as well as just clapping along and singing if you feel like!