Charlie plays panto part once more

THERE was an empty space left in the heart of the drama community in Newry following the death of Charlie Smyth in November of last year.       

Mr Smyth, who was instrumental in fouding and developing such groups as the Newry Panto Players, the Newry Muscial Society and the Bosco Drama group, died aged 92.

   For many of his contemporaries who had the privilege of witnessing one of his plethora of panto  performances, an abundance  of which the former Newry councillor  dutifully directed as well as acted in, the charisma and gravitas projected by this most talented acting talisman will be one that will stay with them until they themselves share a stage with him once more  in heaven.

 However, in a magical twist of fate which would not have been out of place in one of the many  pantomimes he performed in those of a new generation will be able to witness Charlie’s angel take to the stage once more in the Newry Panto Player’s production of Aladdin due to debut this Friday (January 16) in the Newry Town Hall.

Using archived video footage courtesy of filmmaker Declan Brady audiences both young and old will be swept away by the spellbinding  performance delivered by Mr Smyth  as the titular Genie in the timeless  pantomime classic Aladdin.

Indeed with the eponymous organisation which he worked to found celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, group member Catherine Farrell shared how in addition to their  production  of Aladdin taking place there will also be a personal tribute paid to the life and legacy of their most esteemed founder before the staging of the play. 

Tribute to Charlie’s Angel

“Charlie is in the pantomime this year” said Catherine.

“He is the Genie. It was a projection and we are going to use this in the pantomime. I told Charlie that he would be in the Pantomime this year. So he is on stage with us playing the Genie. It was recorded from our previous show.

“Declan Brady does all our filming such as the flying carpet sequence. He previously filmed Charlie and had him in the archive. When I said to him that we would love Charlie to do the Genie again he said he would have a look and he has found all the footage that Charlie did for us. So he will be in the pantomime. During the show when Aladdin goes looking for the lamp the genie will come out and that genie will be Charlie. 

“Given that the Disney genie is blue he first turns up as Grandpa Smurf  who is also blue and Aladdin puts it too him that he is not the right person for the job. Eventually he comes out as the Aladdin genie.

Indeed we had a bit of footage that we did in a previous Aladdin where we filmed in the Buttercrane, out on the streets of Newry and Town Hall. It is for our China Town sequence. We are doing a tribute to Charlie at the very beginning of the show.

“We are going to use this particular footage behind all of the cast. We are doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Charlie loved Somewhere Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of Oz.

“ We are doing this as a tribute to him. We have said to the likes of the Newry Musical Society and the Newpoint Players which he was a part of.

“We have said to them if they are in the hall on any night if they have booked tickets that if they want to come up and join us for this tribute of Somewhere Over the Rainbow they are welcome to do so and then they can go down and take their seat. This has been received very well by those who just like ourselves thought that there was nobody like Charlie.”

50 years of Panto

Whilst any and all who attend the Newry Panto Player’s production of Aladdin will have the privilege  of witnesses Charlie’s performance first hand, this is just a posthumous  epilogue to an eclectic  career as an entertainer.

  This is a career which Catherine can vividly recall as having found its stride in 1976 upon the founding of the Newry Panto Players by which time Charlie was already a seasoned panto performer.

 “Charlie and Sean Canavan  always did the  Pantomime season in the Bosco  in the early days when I was a child, this is 62 years ago that he was doing them. Charlie told me the story of how Newry Panto Players got started.

“Around this time it was more about the fact that the town was dead with the troubles being at their peak. There was nothing happening in Newry and the Clerk of Council turned up at Charlie’s house and said to him "listen Charlie there is nothing happening in Newry, would you do something?

Charlie said "If I do anything I will do a pantomime". This is exactly how it all happened. He did the Pantomime. It was initiated by the council seeking to get something up and going to give a bit of life to Newry.

“I honestly cannot remember the name of the first pantomime they hosted, the first I remember was Cinderella in 1979. Charlie always liked Cinderella anyway and him and Sean Canavan would have always done the ugly sisters. This is how it started, it was someone looking to put something on in Newry to give the town a bit of light.

“My first Pantomime was Babes in the Wood.”

Different Era

As Catherine explains when Newry Panto Players was first founded 50 years ago they were operating in an entirely different context to what they are today.

“We were in a different era . Back in those days we closed for Christmas and we would have started on Boxing Day. This is when the Pantomime opened, on Boxing Day. Everywhere was closed. If we found that we needed anything or something cropped up it was a challenge. You had to make sure that you were looking ahead and that you had everything. You just could not turn around and say well don’t worry, I will order it on the internet and it will be here the next morning.

“I remember on one occasion that our cloths were in Waterford and we were opening that afternoon for the matinee. Cloths are what go up and depict what the scene is about. For instance in Aladdin you are going to have a street or a palace a cloth would depict this, they all went walkies. The cloths arrived literally one hour and a half before we opened.

“The boys were putting them up literally as we were starting the show.

Charlie said "Put up what we really need, we will probably not get them all up, but put up what we really need so we can get the show up and going.”

“ It was a different era as to how we do Pantomime now and our access to everything.”

Newry Panto Player’s production of Aladdin will be taking place within Newry Town hall from this Friday (January 16) to next Saturday, January 24, with showings taking place nightly at 7.30pm except  for Sunday the 18th, Monday the 19th of and Tuesday the 20th of January.  

 There will also be Matinee showings of the production at 2.30pm on Saturday, January 17, Sunday, January  18, and Saturday, January 24. 

 Tickets are  currently available at the Buttercrane Shopping Centre with payment at door being £10.