Saturday, January 3, 2009

Robin Hood Pantomine - Shrewsbury Music Hall 2009

Heading out of the sunny Tanant Valley on a crisp winter day. We headed towards a misty, foggy, and cold Shrewsbury Town Centre. After parking at Frankwell and walking through the damp cold part cobble streets of the medieval town. We first visited KFC for lunch.

Next stop was Shrewsbury Music Hall for one of the last performances to be held there before it closes its doors for good. The performances in the future will be held in the new Theatre Severn Theatre on the banks of the Severn. http://www.theatresevern.co.uk/.

The pantomime this year was " Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood " starring Jim Alexander a well known actor from Television`s London`s Burning, The Bill and Dream Team.
Billy, Aaron, Helen, Conner and Myself all really enjoyed the Pantomime it was fun and a real laugh. Ben Nickless who played Will Scarlett was a scream and had us in stitches with his antics.

Ben Nickless is a stand up comedian to visit his web site please click link below.

http://www.bennickless.co.uk/

The plot was the evil Sheriff of Nottingham attempt to kidnap the kings niece and nephew Jack and Jill. Robin Hood and his merry men were of course the savers of the day. The Pantomime ended with how Pantomime's do with the wedding of Maid Marion to her hero Robin Hood Lord Loxley.

Through out the performances were moments of madness caused by Will Scarlet with jokes and sing a long songs. It was a really good performance we were all very impressed with the child actors who also danced and sung.

It will be sad to see the end of the music hall. We have visited the music hall for a few performances over the years both with school and on family trips. I remember one December in particular when Shrewsbury Town was flooded by the river Severn and we had to walk along wooden raised platforms to reach the music hall with Daniel in his wheel chair with the flood water below.

info on Robin Hood Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood

THE MUSIC HALL History & Info

The Music Hall in Shrewsbury, England, is a large Victorian building owned by Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council and currently houses the borough's theatre and central Visitor Information Centre, as well as a cafe and some council offices.
It is located on The Square in Shrewsbury town centre. In front of it is the Old Market Hall, now used as the borough council's cinema which was formerly housed within the Music Hall itself.
The site was once the location of the town's fire service and the passage which runs through The Music Hall and out onto Swan Hill is called Fire Office Passage. A sign mentioning this is to be found on the right hand side as one enters the music hall from The Square. To the rear of the music hall is Vaughan's Mansion, a substantially intact 13Th century stone and timber framed hall-house formerly owned by one of the town's most important families but largely obscured my later additions. The building also includes a basement that was intended for use as a nuclear fallout shelter and a number of Police 'holding' cells where prisoners were held whilst attending the court that used to sit in the Old Market Hall in the Square. It is rumoured that an underground passage exists linking the two sites and was directly connected to the dock in the court room?
The borough council are currently building a new theatre and entertainment venue in Frankwell, named 'Theatre Severn', about a mile from The Music Hall which is due to open in March 2009. The theatre will therefore move to this new complex at the beginning of January 2009. Following the move, The Music Hall will likely be used as the town's main museum, retaining the cafe and Visitor Information Centre. Currently the museum is located in Rowley's House, on Barker Street.


Above photographs of the inside of the music hall soon to be a thing of the past

Music Hall Web Site Link - http://www.musichall.co.uk/

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