An evening spent watching "Toad on the Rebound" was the perfect antidote to a damp grey Friday! New Eltham Methodist Church's 40^th Anniversary Pantomime written and directed by Keith Chuter and Liz Penney was based on the characters we know and love from Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows". In this version the Riverbank is under threat from local MP Fox (Michael Chuter - a wonderful pantomime villain) who plans to let it be the site for the forthcoming Olympic Regatta in revenge for being exiled from the Riverbank. Toad (Julian Bartlett - resplendent in green lycra) unwittingly aids Fox by giving up the deeds of Toad Hall in order to buy a horse (Keith Chuter and an unidentified pair of female legs) and caravan. Of course Mayor of the Riverbank, Olivia Otter (Geraldine Helps) and the other Riverbank folk cannot let this happen and the day is saved, and even Fox is eventually welcomed back into the fold. The lead characters were all true to the spirit of "Wind in the Willows", Steve Keene as Mole is sweet and retiring, Ratty (David Timmins) friendly and easy-going and Toad impulsive and selfish but still lovable. No pantomime would be complete without a romance and the star crossed lovers in this case were Stag (Tom Helps) and Doe (Emma King) who sang beautifully together.

The whole cast were playing different types of animals (special mention must be made of the excellent costumes and make-up) and I really enjoyed seeing how they all kept in character throughout the scenes, grooming whiskers and scratching behind ears. There was a lot of attention to detail in this production; at the opening of one scene the Weasels were reading Hello and OK magazines but the pictures were of animals rather than human celebrities.

All the children in the cast performed really well. They appeared first as Toad's nieces and nephews and sang The Frog Chorus. Then later they came on dressed as jockeys with hobby horses and each of them told a seemingly endless supply of jokes about horses, jockeys and racing. There were lots of jokes throughout the entire show, many making the audience groan! (My personal favourite was when Ratty said he lit a fire in his canoe to keep warm, but then realised you can't have your kayak and heat it...).

The music and lighting were used to great effect especially in the "silent movie" scene where Doe having been captured by Fox is tied to a tree and is eventually rescued by Mole, and in the dream sequence where Fox and Olivia Otter perform Torvill and Dean's Bolero on roller skates!