Launton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map sources for Launton at grid reference SP609220

Launton is a small village, located to the east of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. Launton is twinned with another village in France called Gavray.

Launton has a primary school, local store (costcutter) 2 public houses, a butchers, post office and hair studio.

Launton has its own pantomime group called the Launton Village Players

An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline.

If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand the article to establish its notability, citing reliable sources. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for deletion, as per Wikipedia:Guide to deletion. (See also Wikipedia:Notability)
This article has been tagged since December 2006.

[edit] The Launton Village Players

The Village Players have put on a Pantomime in Launton since the mid 1980s. The early Pantos were put on in the Parish Hall immediately after Christmas and, although built on traditional plots, were very locally based.

Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Launtingham was the first, at the end of December 1986. It took the traditional story and wove in local characters, events and references.

How The Wild West End Was Won (1987) was about the attempt by Laings, the builders and developers, to get planning permission for a major housing development on the Island Pond Field at the top of West End, and was based on the conventions of western movies.

From 1988 the shows became a bit more traditional in their structure, and moved to the Launton Sports and Social Club which offered more space and a licence. Cinderella (1988) and Aladdin (1989) were both put on here, both with original scripts.

For the 1990 show, performances were moved to the late winter school half term, so in true Panto topsy-turvey tradition the 1990 show took to the stage in February 1991.

The Grand Old Duke of Launton (the 1990 show in 1991) was the first Panto that set out to raise money for charity. After expenses it donated £170.50 to local charities

By 1992 the Village Players had managed to secure a temporary performance licence for the Parish Hall, and Launton Pantomime returned there as its permanent home for some years. For a week in February the Hall was transformed into a small and very cosy theatre for the Panto run, with raised seating and professional theatre lights.

Robinson Crusoe (1992) sold almost every seat in its four-night run, and over £450 was raised: most of this was given to the Parish Hall to help replace the badly-rotted floor.

Dick Whittington (1993) had to turn people away at the door on three nights, introduced Launton to the novelty act of The Whistling Barmen, added a marquee to the front of the Parish Hall to provide extra space front of house, and ended up donating nearly £900 to charities - mainly the Parish Hall and Bicester Community Hospital.

Snow White (1994) added a fifth performance to the run on the Wednesday night, four were sell-outs. This show was notable for having one of the largest dwarfs ever seen in pantomime.

Ali Baba (1995) sold out its Saturday afternoon performance the first morning tickets went on sale. The show raised £1,500, half of which was donated to the Parish Hall in memory of Simon de la Bedoyère who had been closely involved in the early Pantomimes.

Jack and the Beanstalk (1996) had a run of six shows, adding another show on Friday afternoon, with over 600 seats in all performances. This show raised over £2,000, most of which was donated to local causes but The Village Players put aside enough money to replace the Launton Parish Hall piano.

George and the Dragon (1997) again raised over £2,000 most of which was given to the Launton branch of The Imperial Cancer Research Fund in memory of Penny Young, a long time helper and supporter. It contained the best line in all the shows so far. In response to the frenzied cry for action from the crazed leader of the gypsy band, 'We must act, now!' one of his followers replied, in tones of real outrage and with perfect timing, 'But I am acting.'.

Puss in Boots (1998) turned out to be the straw that broke the Parish Hall. Every ticket for all six performances was sold a week before the first night. There was no way of increasing the capacity of the Hall or of adding other performances.

The Players had to make a move for 1999 and Sleeping Beauty (1999) was the first of the Launton Pantomimes at Cooper School. The decision to move was only confirmed in the previous November, so some quick adjustments had to be made to the set and the staging, to fill the much larger space.

Cinderella (2000) was The Players' second try at the classic story (the first was in 1988) for their Millennium show, and filled the space with a towering set and a cast and crew of over 50 people. It sold 998 seats (why couldn't we sell the extra two, to make the 1000) and gave away £3,000 from its proceeds.

Aladdin (2001) was another reprise for The Players (the story was first done in 1989) but like all other shows used an original script. It filled the Hall with an amazing array of colour and movement, featuring a dazzling collection of costumes and the loveable camel Camilla. The Magic Carpet special effect was particularly enjoyed by children and grown-ups alike.

Mother Goose & Son Honk! Honk! (2002) had a larger cast than ever before, and some spectacular special effects. Again, the fickle finger of fate meant that many other groups (including the Playhouse in Oxford) put on a Mother Goose Panto this year so it was in fierce competition for audiences.

For the first time, Mother Goose was a Launton Pantomime with entirely original music specially written by the Musical Director Steve Webber. It sold over 1000 seats in the five-performance run, and donated £3,500 to charity.

The production for 2003 was Red Riding Hood in which the baddy was an unscrupulous business consultant, Andersen McSly. It was he who was eventually eaten by the wolf while masquerading as Grandma. Other than this the story was fairly conventional and the other traditional characters were all to be seen in a spectacular production which showed the benefits of professional choreography by a former member of the children's chorus, David Hudson. This time over £4000 was given to charity and several performances were sold out well in advance.

Ethel and the Pirate King (2004) brought a brand new story. The title arose when the writer (Martin Evans) was asked about the 2004 show. He hadn’t got a title at that stage, and remembering (or slightly misremembering) the film Shakespeare in Love (where the Bard is suffering from writer’s block while trying to finish a play called Romeo, and Ethel, the Pirate King’s Daughter) said it would be Ethel and the Pirate King. Somehow the title stuck, and the show duly appeared with many of the classic elements of Pantomime: a Dame; women dressed as men; men dressed as women; a young and dashing hero; a beautiful heroine; a villain who is soft-hearted underneath the frightening exterior; a seriously nasty villainess with bad magic; a talking animal; a comedy trio; opportunities for spectacular scenery; a messy scene, and stunning costumes ...

Since The Grand Old Duke of Launton set out to raise money, and gave away £170.50, the Launton Pantomime has donated nearly £30,000. This money has been raised playing to over 10,000 people at 78 performances which have raised laughs and given many children their first experience of live theatre.

Local businesses have supported Launton Panto with advertising, and with donations in kind, and have helped with publicity. Schools and other community groups have loaned equipment and given support through promotion and marketing.

Since 1986, in different venues and with different casts, supported by an increasing group of musicians and an expanding repertoire of special effects, the spirit of Pantomime has survived: music, songs, romance, dance routines, a love story, the Villain, magic (real and imaginary), the Dame, talking (and dumb) animals, the broker's men, a children's chorus, specialty acts, the Principal Boy... The Pantomime will still transport you to magic lands where anything is possible, where dragons breathe fire and knights are bold, where Princesses are forever sixteen, where Nursery Rhymes come to life, and camels can dance.

All this is due to the efforts of Celia and Martin Evans who are the heart of the Village Players, without them there would be no Launton Pantomime. In July 2005 Martin and Celia were invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in recognition of their contribution to local drama and the community.

Pictures from behind the scenes of their 2007 Pantomime Humpty Dumpty.