TWEED Theatre has triumphed again with My Big Fat Greek Cinderella, writes Jenifer Thomas.

I left the Eastgate Theatre feeling happy and couldn’t stop smiling at the colourful, enthusiastic and slick performance given by the young cast.

The action is set on a Greek Island and Tweed Theatre pulled out all the stops with a blue and white theme echoed in the back drop, carpets, curtains and costumes.

The show was opened by the narrator, beautifully played by Elise Reed and living up to her programme billing as “seriously sarcastic”.

Elise guided the audience through the action and punctuated this with some funny and acerbic comment. The opening number was well choreographed and had my foot tapping immediately.

As one audience member said: “It was vibrant, colourful and funny. I loved every minute of it."

The rest of the principals were well cast – the antics of ugly sisters Hannah Sorrell and Neve Reed and waiter Euan Macleod had the audience giggling from the start while the Prince and Cinderella (Daniel Askew and Imogen Smith) as the romantic leads made everyone give a big “ahhh” when they finally got together.

They were ably supported by Calum Brunton, Ellie Weir, Robbie Weir and Olivia Napier respectively as Cinderella’s father, stepmother, King Spiros and the fairy godmother.

However it was the Prince’s right hand man, Kostas played by Arran Houston who almost stole the show – he interacted with the audience throughout and gave his number to many unsuspecting ladies as he tried Cinderella’s silver sandal on every single girl in the place.

Using a group of Goddesses (Abigail Harper, Maddie Reberg, Millie Jones and Neve Scott) to provide vocal support was inspired. These girls were on stage throughout the show and belted out many well-known tunes staying in character the whole time and reacting to the action on the stage. This gave the ensemble the chance to concentrate on a series of dances slickly choreographed by some of the cast and to interact with the story.

The Fisher Kings, a group of older gentlemen, were also on stage for most of the show playing dominoes and calling for more drinks thus providing realism and support for the cast.

Productions like this don’t happen without considerable hard work and it was evident that the whole cast had put in many hours to perfect this show. They have been guided through the process by producer Keith Brunton and director Katharine Mathison, supported by Yvonne Brunton and Abi Reed all of whom have also given a lot of their time and energy to ensure this has been described by one audience member as “foot tapping and spell binding from the first moment”, “the best yet”.

Sponsorship for the show was by Brown Brothers Honda and Crossburn Caravans - both of these businesses have supported Tweed Theatre for many years and their help is always very much appreciated.

Tweed Theatre would also like to thank Stephen Mathison of Off the Back Barbers for the video, photography and publicity materials and everyone else who has provided practical help, emotional support, stage management, technical support and assisted with promotion, props, costumes and set. Keith Brunton summed it up: “It is always difficult to thank everyone who helps with a production like this, you are always in danger of missing someone out so we would simply like to say thank you to everyone who has helped to make this a successful, happy and enjoyable show to work on."

I certainly enjoyed it and I am always impressed by the talent and dedication demonstrated by amateur theatre groups like this.

When I also consider that the cast and crew of this show were almost all between the ages of 10 and 16 I am even more amazed and I look forward to future productions!