Wishing on a Star

A pantomime by Helen Thrower & Verity Roberts
Saturday 26 January 2019 - Sunday 27 January 2019
Friday 1 February 2019 - Saturday 2 February 2019
Faringdon Junior School, 26 Gloucester Street, Faringdon SN7 7HY
Directed by Helen Thrower
Produced by Debbie Lock

Performances start 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm. Doors open 30 minutes earlier. Each performance lasts approximately 2½ hours. Matinées on Saturdays and Sunday only.
Tickets: Adult £8. Child (under 16) £6. No concessions.
Tickets were available from our Online Box Office and The Gifted Magpie, 6 London Street, Faringdon.

This is a brand new pantomime written jointly by two members of the society, Helen Thrower and Verity Roberts. They were also the writers of our 2016 panto ‘Happily Ever After…?’. So if you came to that then you know you can expect another good one again this year.

In the ancient Kingdom of Durocornovium, a star falls to earth once in a hundred years to take their rightful place on the throne.  But this time things are a little different.  This time the Star has not fallen in quite the right place and everyone wants to find her. Kristian wants the Star to take back to his one true love. The Princes want the Star so that they can remain in power and the Witches of Savernake want the Star to help them regain their youth and beauty. All must brave the dreaded dragon, a den of delinquents and a forest of thieves but who will get to her first? Will finding the Star make all their wishes come true?  And will they all live happily ever after…?

A sparkling new panto, full of twists and turns, and with more than a hint of magic!

3rd place in the Oxfordshire Drama Network (ODN) Pantomime Competition 2019.

Photos and video copied from Facebook so not best quality or size

You may or may not be interested to know that Durocornovium was a typical Romano-British town that existed from 50-450 AD. It was situated on Ermine Street, the Roman road between Cirencester and Silchester (now partly the A419) at what is now Nythe Farm on the eastern outskirts of modern Swindon. Our story is post-Roman and set many centuries after the Saxons completely demolished the town, using the stone to build Swindon (pig hill). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durocornovium)

Also, at about 6 pm on Wednesday 9th April 1628 a shooting star passed low over Faringdon and landed 3 miles away on Baulking Green with, it was quoted at the time, a “hideous rumbling in the air; and presently after followed a strange and fearful peal of thunder”. The stone broke in the fall and the largest piece was recorded at 19.5lb, which would have been bigger than a tennis ball and travelling at around 400 mph when it hit the ground. (http://historicfalls.com/pre-scientific-falls/hatford-meteorite/)

Pia from Faringdon

Rating:

Sunday matinée "Great script"

Great production and high standards all round stand out performances from Abby Benson, an excellent singer and Scooby Carter whose stage command was on point. Really worth a visit. The script was excellent, well done to the writers.

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Nesh Jonas from Faringdon

Rating:

Saturday matinée "Fantastic story"

One of my new favourite things is to watch Faringdon Dramatic Society perform a pantomime, after watching Arthur’s Adventures and Dick Whittington and now Wishing on a Star all I can say is it gets better every time, to watch so many children I know perform with such confidence is amazing. Also to see people I haven’t seen in a long time perform and with such enthusiasm. Well done guys.

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Bunty MCCormack from Didcot

Rating:

Saturday matinée "Wonderful"

Well done to all FDS members for an excellent production. Writers, producers, back stage staff…all involved, should be very proud. Sarah Varnom, as Dame Bucket gave an outstanding performance and Abby Benson has an amazing voice. The only negative was it was just a little too long, the last songs seemed to be "tacked on".

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Bobbie Stewart from Faringdon

Rating:

Sunday matinée "Entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable."

The costumes were lovely and very colourful. Everything about the pantomime was excellent. There were one or two occasions when the audibility could have been better – one notable instance was when the children were singing and as their voices were less strong it was more difficult to hear what they were singing so you lost a bit of the story. The first half was a little long and the children got a bit restless but they came back from the break refreshed and, as the second half was shorter, quite lively and included some audience participation, they (and we adults) thoroughly enjoyed it. The whole production oozed hard work, talent, dedication and commitment. Thank you.

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Sally Owen from Bicester

Rating:

Sunday matinée "Loved every minute."

Good simple set, one member of cast didn't know their lines which made it hard for the rest of the cast. Dancing and singing fantastic. Unsure when we were meant to use the little lights. Band great. Acting and performance + jokes laughed so much made my tummy ache.

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Karon from East Hanney

Rating:

Saturday evening "Good story, strong performances."

Very well done, with a lot of very strong performances. Easy to hear, costumes and music good.

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Sarah from Faringdon

Rating:

Saturday evening "So much talent."

I am in awe of the talent in FDS. From the costume designers to musicians, set designers to front of house, prompters and make up artists to the very talented performers of all ages. We are so lucky to be entertained so professionally, and all in our home town. Keep doing what you are doing!

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Paul from Uffington

Rating:

Saturday evening "Sheer magic."

The FDS panto is always a much anticipated annual event for me and my family but this year’s production completely blew us away. The quality of the story kept us all involved so we didn’t notice the time pass. Great acting, particularly from the Dame and Witches, and superb singing. So nice to hear a live band instead of a recording too. Congrats all round!

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Guy from Long Hanborough

Rating:

Sunday matinée "Typical pantomime, lots of amusement and generally very enjoyable."

Good storyline, well constructed, yet still including the normal pantomime characteristics. Length was too long in my opinion – it was 2.40 including interval. Audibility was generally good – but the music tended to be too loud, especially in 'we will rock you' which was basically inaudible. The band was very good apart from being generally too loud. When there was no music, the majority of words could be heard – some children and younger actors sometimes got a bit lost. Visibility was excellent – what a nice stage. Acting was mostly very good, especially the witches, and I appreciated the ad-libbing due to a particular young member of the audience (who was sat right in front of us and was mostly very funny). The singing was mostly very good – especially well done to the lead. I thought the children's song was very good, they did extremely well. Costumes were excellent and together with the set and lighting really added to things – right from the start, where the witches scene had a nice feel to it.

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Tony from Witney

Rating:

Saturday matinée "Thoroughly enjoyable. Colour, costumes, music and audience participation all commendable."

With such a large cast it was good to see that when on stage everyone was in character all the time. With the thread of different sub-plots going on there were many entrances and exits with large groups: the timing of all these movements were excellent and kept the plot flowing very well. Congratulations.

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Debbie from Cirencester

Rating:

Friday evening "Fantastic!!"

A wonderful performance by everyone!!

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Elaine from Fairford

Rating:

Friday evening "A fun filled, entertaining evening"

What a fantastic panto! Beautifully written and awesome actors. The music, costumes, sets, lighting…. it was ALL brilliant. Congratulations.

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