A pure moment of instinctive kind-hearted selflessness by a seven-year-old boy in Swansea stole the show during a performance of the annual Grand Theatre pantomime. On Sunday, December 18, Braxton Thomas was invited on stage as a part of a group of four children to take part in a scene of this year's Beauty and the Beast show. You can read our review of the panto along with other Christmas shows here.
The Townhill youngster cut an unassuming figure as one of four children lined up on stage waiting his turn to sing the animal noise verse of Old McDonald. But once it was time for them to receive goodie bags as a reward for their cameos in the show, it was a famous panto gag that created a memorable moment. Kev Johns, who plays Nanna Penny, and Matt Edwards, who plays Cyril, handed out the gifts to three of the kids - leaving one little girl out, pretending that they only had enough for three of them. Of course, there was always a fourth goodie bag, but kind-hearted Braxton’s immediate thought was to sacrifice his and hand it over to the little girl left empty handed.
Whilst the Terrace Road School pupil did get his own goodie bag afterwards, with a few extra selection boxes for his good deed, his selfless act was met by the biggest ovation of the afternoon from the audience. Kev Johns himself even acknowledged the moment afterwards on social media, explaining how he had “never seen kindness like it” in all of his many years participating in the annual show, describing it as special and memorable.
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He wrote: "In all my years of doing panto and song sheets and the one goodie bag short gag Matt Edwards and I have never seen kindness like at this afternoon's show. There is always a fourth goody bag but a young lad called Braxton stepped forward to give his goodie bag to someone he thought was going without! It was a very special and memorable moment Braxton got his goody bag with some extra stuff and the admiration of everyone at the Swansea Grand."
Braxton's mum, Jo Allen, was watching her son from the audience together with other members of their family. She said: "Everyone has been shouting about it, it's been fab. We go to the panto every year and yesterday we went for breakfast with Santa at the Phoenix Centre and then went straight to the panto. We were sat there during the break and the lady who works there just came and tapped me on the shoulder and asked whether Braxton would like to come on stage. I asked him, but he's not really a fan of things like that, but he agreed to it.
"He sat there and moved to the end of the row, and the lady came and got him and off he went. I was chuffed he took part in it, I honestly didn't think he would. When he gave away his bag to the little girl, it was spur of the moment, I don't think anyone could have expected it. I was absolutely bursting with pride. I was so proud of him. At the end of it everyone was coming up to him and he was absolutely buzzing. I think he felt like a little celebrity! After that, they chucked extra selection boxes in his bag, and he ended up with three, but he didn't keep one for himself, he gave them to his siblings.
"It was lovely because it was natural. Nobody had told him what to do. It's just what he thought was the best thing to do in that situation. I've had so many messages on social media telling me 'your little boy is so amazing, he stole the show'. It obviously touched a lot of people."
Audience member Clive Lewis added: "Quick as a flash, and without any prompting, a seven-year-old boy named Braxton, moved from his end of the line to the other end of the line to offer his present to the 'unlucky' girl whom he did not know. This was the highlight of the show for me and was met by thunderous applause from the audience. Even Kevin Johns admitted that he’d never seen anything like that in all his years performing in panto and gave Braxton a well earned mention in the finale."
Beauty and the Beast is at Swansea’s Grand Theatre until Sunday, January 15. Click here for tickets.
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