Author and producer Mrs Ruth Allen, of Coachways, Mapperley Village, explained why they decided to put on a pantomime.

"About three years ago we staged a revue in the village, and everybody enjoyed it so much that we thought we'd repeat the exercise, and raise some money for the church at the same time”

Cinderella is Ruth's first venture into play writing, and she took only five evenings to dash it off.
"My husband was away, so I just sat down and wrote," she said. "It was really quite easy because I knew who I was writing for, so the jokes came quickly, and of course I had a strong traditional story to work on — I think I'd have had trouble if I hadn't had that to base it on."

"We've tried to keep everything very simple — there are no virtuoso solos for the principles, just two choruses of children in fact that sounds rather grand too, because the choruses are all of the village children, every one of them.

"It's all great fun, but it has to be simple — we've been rehearsing in the church, and it's been so cold that the children have been prancing around in duffle coats and wellies, so there's no chance for much finesse," she said "How they'll manage not to freeze when they're in their flimsy costumes I don't know."
Keeping the panto a family affair, her 14-year-old daughter Beccy is playing Cinderella — and she's more worried about singing than freezing.
Although she belongs to a school of dance in Nottingham, and has often danced in public, she is too frightened to sing her ‘Over the Rainbow’ number as Cinders — she mimes while her mother sings from the side of the stage.