Lowestoft: Prince tweet not so sweet
LOWESTOFT'S Prince Charming has proved to be not so charming after all, after he slated the town online.Owen Woodgate, who plays Prince Charming in the Marina Theatre's pantomime Cinderella, turned from panto-hero to villain after he posted scathing comments about Lowestoft on his Twitter website, using an expletive to describe the town to a friend.
LOWESTOFT'S Prince Charming has proved to be not so charming after all, after he slated the town online.
Owen Woodgate, who plays Prince Charming in the Marina Theatre's pantomime Cinderella, turned from panto-hero to villain after he posted scathing comments about Lowestoft on his Twitter website, using an expletive to describe the town to a friend.
And although the 'tweet' was sent to a close friend and only alerted to a handful of his Twitter 'followers', the website is available for public viewing and was stumbled upon by theatre goer and Journal reader Karl Traynier.
Mr Traynier said: 'Yes Lowestoft has its problems, but so does every town up and down the country. These comments seem to be unfair and really unjust.'
The talented actor posted a number of negative comments concerning a local nightclub and the 10am pantomime performances, but it was a comment on December 11 that particularly offended Mr Traynier.
'Lowestoft. Near Great Yarmouth . . . Everyone is pregnant. No Starbucks. Hoodies dominate the streets. Poo,' wrote Mr Woodgate.
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Social networking site Twitter has hit the national headlines on many occasions this year, with a number of comments from high-profile stars causing offence. In July, footballer Darren Bent famously fell foul when he criticised Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, while Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes was reprimanded for revealing he'd been dropped for the third Ashes test.
Although Mr Woodgate declined to comment, he has removed any offending tweets and admitted on his page that 'first impressions of town were way off the mark'.
He also tweeted: 'Having a fantastic time, met some great people, show has been a massive success, and everyone has been very welcoming to this London actor.'
These sentiments were this week echoed by pantomime star Dave Benson-Phillips, who is playing Buttons in the production.
'I've had a great time, the people are lovely and everyone's been saying how they've been looking forward to seeing us,' he said.
The production draws to a close on Sunday and has proven to be a great success with critics and audience members alike.
Theatre manager Martin Halliday said: 'We've broken all of last year's records. It's been a fantastic production by a superb company, and it's great that they've got so involved in the community.'
Producers UK Productions declined to comment on the issue.
