GET ready with your boos and hisses as a supreme pair of “baddies” plot to see evil triumph over good in Ali Baba and the Fourteen Thieves, the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society (BMDS) Christmas pantomime.Veteran actors Connie Dey and Stephen Notman play the diabolical mother and son, Mrs. Leak and Mustafa, in the annual event. Written by Carol Birch, the tale is loosely based on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, a story taken from 101 Arabian Nights.

As described by a BMDS spokesperson, the plot follows Ali Baba in his quest to marry a lovely servant girl, Morgiana.

“There once lived in a town in Persia two brothers, one named Hassan, and the other Ali Baba. Hassan had married a rich wife, but Ali Baba and his mother were poor and ran the local laundry. Ali Baba, who was in love with Morgiana, a servant girl to his brother, was saving every shekel he had so he could marry her and take her away to far-off lands where she would never be a servant again. And that is where our story picks up. Ali has almost saved enough money and everything is going to turn out just fine — or that’s what he thinks — until the thieves turn up and dash all his plans. Our hero, along with Morgiana, his mother, and his friends Bingo and Calid, sets out on a quest to find the thieves and right a grave injustice. They meet many obstacles along the way including an encounter with the mysterious and powerful spirit who haunts the desert. Will our heroes succeed? Come with us on a journey of pure fantasy and see if good triumphs over evil.”

If Mrs. Dey and Mr. Notman prevail that won’t happen. It is however, Mr. Notman’s argument that their role is a misunderstood one.

“We’re not actually bad people,” he joked. “We’re ‘baddies’ — what I like to describe as dark pathos of a misunderstood heart, a product of an autocratic society drawn to a life of poverty, forced to steal by the absence of a welfare state.

“We’re there to provide the only tension in the play. We regularly come out to a chorus of boos and hisses. It’s actually the perfect role as you can be quite bad at it and it doesn’t matter in that you know you will get booed anyway. The goal is actually to see whether the director tells you you’re overacting - which she actually did tell me the other day.”

Interrupted Mrs. Dey: “He blames (our circumstances) all on his name — which is his father’s fault. He has a warped sense of humour.”

Ali Baba and the Fourteen Thieves is the 25th pantomime Mrs. Dey has been involved in and is a testament to her fierce love of the stage.

Said a BMDS spokesperson: “Connie’s first performances in Bermuda were with the Kindley Air Theatre, a weekly, live radio drama presented by the personnel of the US Air Force Base. She soon gravitated to the BMDS and appeared in her first three shows in 1958.

“Her first pantomime participation was doing advertising for Jack and the Beanstalk in 1967. She worked in this area for four pantomimes, and worked ‘front-of -house’ for six others. Her first actual appearance in pantomimes was as wicked stepmothers — in Snow White in 1975 and Cinderella, in 1976. Ali Baba and the Fourteen Thieves<$> is her 15th pantomime appearance, and she’s been a ‘baddie’ in most or them. So Connie is happy to claim, that in one way or other, she’s been involved in 25 Christmas Pantomimes and has appeared with most of Bermuda’s theatre groups over the years.”

Though his experience is nowhere near as vast, Mr. Notman’s skills as an actor were sufficient to warrant Mrs. Dey’s attention when she saw him onstage a few years ago.

“I’ve done well over a dozen shows, and I had a part in a musical, Scrooge,” he explained. “The last thing I did of note was the part of a paedophile serial killer, in the play Frozen<$>.”

Said Mrs. Dey: “I actually wrote him a letter of congratulations because of it. I was so impressed with his talent. I thought he was wonderful — a new talent back in Bermuda and onstage.”

Each was just as complimentary about the rest of the cast and crew.“Pantomime is about the subtle art of one-upmanship on stage,” he said, explaining that it was a phrase stolen from BMDS clotheshorse Barbara Jones.

“It’s usually very easy to play ‘baddies’, however this pantomime has charismatic good guys as well.”

Mrs. Dey had high praise for the dancers and for James Burn, who penned the production’s score from his home in England.“The best thing the kids will like is Joanna Powell’s dancers who will showcase some hip hop, some break dancing but the music is absolutely wonderful. James Burn wrote all original music for this. He’s a world-class talent. The music is as good as you’d see on Broadway.”

Contradicted Mr. Notman: “It’s a fine, amateur effort.”

Continued Mrs. Dey: “The set is such a big part of it. The backstage crew is so dedicated. They’re there before we get in and after we leave. There’s no way anyone (not involved in theatre) could appreciate how pivotal a good backstage crew is to a production.”

Both were excited to welcome another veteran actor back to the stage — Gavin Wilson in the role of the Dame.

“Gavin as a dame is wonderful,” said Mr. Notman. “He’s a burst of genius that makes us laugh — and even funnier still when he can’t remember his lines. It actually works well with Carol, our director, because she gives us a lot of freedom to do as we like.”

Ali Baba and the Fourteen Thieves <$>runs from December 7 through 16 at the City Hall Theatre. Ticket availability can be checked online at www.bmds.bm or www.boxoffice.bm or by calling 292-0848 or 292-2313.