By Shell C A Year with Frog and Toad, Beaumaris Theatre
For many reasons, including the heat wave, the Scout camp I was meant to be on was cancelled, leaving me with a blissfully free long weekend. Therefore, there was no reason not to pop into Beaumaris Theatre’s latest production, A Year with Frog and Toad. Especially since I wasn’t about to jump into anything more active. I had auditioned (unsuccessfully) for their next production, Steel Magnolias, and while doing so was chatting to the mother of Frog and Toad’s director. Our family’s a bit past the Pantomime stage, but all three of us agreed there were much worse ways to spend our time than sitting still in an airconditioned theatre reasonably close to home.
The audience were about half young families and half groups of adults. I gathered most of the children there were students of the attached theatre school, who are also performing a junior version of Frog and Toad shortly. The row of children in front of us chortled throughout the production, so it was a definite hit.
From the first song about flying south for the winter by the three “birds” (dressed as a pilot and two flight attendants), I could tell this wasn’t going to be an ordinary pantomime. The way the different animals were represented (I will laugh about Snail for a very long time) was so clever and really worked. The cast of five (Frog, Toad, and three actors each playing multiple supporting characters) gave strong performances and had us all laughing. I must say I think that’s the first pantomime where I haven’t been expected to yell “Behind You!!!!” at least once. Actually, I’ve just looked it up and maybe it’s not a pantomime, which would explain a lot.
The story itself was new to me, and I thought it dealt beautifully with some important themes like friendship, gratitude, and believing in yourself. I found it a bit disorienting that the story started with Frog and Toad coming out of hibernation, but later had them sledding in the snow. While this plot point did get resolved, it still jarred with me. However, I acknowledge I am being really picky here. All in all, it was light-hearted, fun, and very refreshing for our family who tend to consume meatier fare these days. We all came out smiling.