Metro Theatre's Christmas Pantomime Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up stars a mother and son from Tsawwassen.
Cameron Thomson went to South Delta Secondary where he was active in their musical theatre program playing the lead in Beauty and the Beast. His mother Christine, has been a member of the Delta Community Choir (DCC) for many years. Chris and her husband Jamie, also a DCC member and piper for the Delta Police Pipe Band, started bringing Cameron to the Metro “pantos” when he was quite young.
A few years ago Cameron auditioned for the panto Robin Hood and Marion and was cast as the prince of Sherwood Forest himself. The next year Chris decided she would work up the courage to audition alongside Cameron for King Arthur's Court. Chris was cast as a villager and Cameron was cast as the constantly-romancing Sir Lancelot.
This year the mother-son duo are working together again. Cameron portrays a rapper with an attitude named Jake. Chris plays the Royal Sycophant, an over enthusiastic yes-woman to the King and Queen.
Pantomimes are re-tellings of classic fairy tales but with some twists.
In this production Sleeping Beauty, or Princess Aurora as she is known to her subjects, wakes up to the possibilities of a technologically advanced world beyond her castle walls. After getting lost in the forest she is helped home by a young man with a cell phone who is able to use Google Maps to find her turreted home - the castle
There are symbols of goodness and evil that are a staple of the pantomime - the “Good Fairy" all in white and the “Demon”. Each side vies with the other for control of the fate of the Princess. Then of course there is the "Dame", the much-loved character who yearns for even more stage time (and usually gets it).
Audience involvement is encouraged, so come ready to boo, cheer and join in on songs like Need a Little Christmas and Let's Have a Party.
The show opens this Friday, Dec. 9 and runs until Jan. 2 with seven matinees starting at 2 p.m. and eight evening shows starting at 7:30 p.m. Parking is free beside the theatre or on the street. The theatre is located at 1370 SW Marine Drive. Tickets: adults from $30 and children under 16 from $25 can be purchased online at TICKETS for Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up or by phone from the box office at 604-266-7191.
