Wednesday, January 25, 2023

By Carmel Hayes

SINBAD set sail for a week-long voyage in Portlaoise on Saturday night, bringing waves of laughter to packed audiences.

Portlaoise Pantomime Group’s hilarious show ***Sinbad and the Ring of Kerry*** is running until this Saturday, 28 January, at 8pm nightly, with a matinée performance at 2.30pm on closing day at the Dunamaise Arts Centre.

Written and directed by Seamus ‘Slice’ Carroll, the 2023 panto features the usual colourful cast of characters and side-splitting moments that make every Portlaoise panto unmissable.

It’s the group’s 37th production since 1985, with an annual show every year except during the pandemic when, in the words of panto legend Christy Bannon, ‘fun was officially banned by the authorities’.

After the Covid-imposed hiatus, the panto is back with a bang in the capable hands of musical director Alan Recks, choreographer Lea Carroll and a fantastic cast, with over 60 people involved on stage and many more in the background.

The main characters, with many familiar faces, are Jason Carroll (Sinbad), John Keyes (Dame Gael Force), Rory Chadwick (Black Beard), Richard Mansworth (Pina Colada), JJ Tynan (Grandad Colada), Gillian Haslam (Mammy Colada), Ciara Finlay (Orville), John McEvoy (Spike Tuna Breath), Ciara Dollard (Mickey Finn), Emma Phelan (Two Toe O’Malley), Stephen Keegan (Smiles One Pick), Barry Larkin (Captain Dick Hornswoggle), Ciara Finlay (Caroline Hornswoggle), Joan White (Maggie Pointer), Helen Flynn (Mary Pointer) and Eleanor Cahill (news reporter), with Deirdre Phelan as tribe leader and Sarah Colbert, Derek McGinn and Joanne Slevin as tribespeople.

Tickets always sell out for the spectacular show, so make sure you’re on board.

 

See our two-page spread in this week’s Laois Nationalist, currently available in all local stores or online.

Photos: Alf Harvey.