JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Blackmore Players

in Blackmore Village Hall

21.01.17

for Sardines

Back to the traditional canon for this year's panto, directed by Rosemarie Nelson with Shirley Parrott the Musical Director.

Ben Crocker's uninspired script does have one or two original touches: Edena the eco-fairy [Barbara Harrold] pitted against the pollutant villain Slimeball [James Hughes] seemed promising, but was not really developed.

All the familiar characters were included: a proper principal boy - Amy Pudney as Jack from the dairy, handling her songs with style – a beautiful princess [Sarah Tayler], and Giant Blunderbore, Chet Atkins fan, played by Alf Currey, who managed to cut an imposing figure despite not exactly towering over the mere mortals. His voice helped, although off-stage it needed more bass rumble and less megaphone.

Dame Madonna Trot was in the experienced hands of Keith Goody, sporting fistfuls of finger rings, a beauty spot and a Marge Simpson hairdo. King Bertram was Martin Herford, bringing a touch of Clive Dunn to the hapless monarch. When it comes to pantomime cows, the Animal Farm dictum “Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad” has much to commend it; nonetheless, Rebecca Smith gave a lively, engaging performance, including the Happy Feet tap-dance, one of many excellent production numbers. The Cockroach rap was an inspired idea, but it would have been good to be able to hear more of the words.

No microphones here – well done – and the cast generally managed to rise above the drum-kit and the bawling babies. Two performers in particular caught the spirit of pantomime to perfection: the aforementioned James Hughes, relishing the lusty boos from the audience, giving a polished performance of laid-back villainy. And Craig Stevens superb as Simple Simon the Cowman; a nicely judged character [“Be brave, Simon!”, we shouted]. He coped magnificently with the kids from the audience, coaxed up for the front cloth number before the finale – a dying art, these days. And his delivery of the venerable “ghoulies” joke quite rightly got a round of applause. This preceded the equally venerable ghost routine, always a favourite, and vociferously enjoyed here [to the tune of Dancing Queen], though in a traditional panto I should prefer the Dame left till last to scare off the ghost.

Lots of lovely songs – Good Morning Merrymore, Glad All Over, I'm A Believer, Holiday Rock [shades of Paul Shane and the Yellowcoats] – and the chorus were well used, not least in the Country Folk running gag.

Blackmore are famous for the community vibe of their panto, and this matinée was warmly received by an enthusiastic crowd. The pace could have been a little more positive, with a tighter focus from some characters. The strobe lighting didn't really add anything, and the edges of the stage were seriously underlit. The race commentary needed much more work to be a reasonable substitute for the fall of Blunberbore, but the quintet of singing sheep over the partition was inspired – a five-baa gate, as Simple Simon might have said ...

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

at the Mercury Theatre Colchester

08.12.2012

for The Public Reviews

Foxton's fabulous set design has a leafy beanstalk stage right, ominous fiery thunderclouds stage left. So far so traditional, but Janice Dunn's original panto for the Mercury begins not with a bang and a flash, but with the gentle bamboo flute of Clare Humphrey's Xena, the compelling storyteller who'll draw us in to this moral tale of a giant who plunges the world into darkness.

It's a witty, intelligent script, and the pace is swift – no gag is stretched, no words are wasted. Loads of inventive twists to keep the story fresh: Dame Trott has an icecream business, and her frocks reflect the flavours on offer, from a 99 to a banana split for the wedding party, which this year has an Olympic theme. The magic beans are flushed away, so the substantial beanstalk rises in triumph from the Trott's Ikea karzi. And if you ever wondered if a cow could ride a stop-me-and-buy-one invalid scooter ... Plenty of slapstick for the kids, too, including an enormous custard pie, and lots of clever detail, like the finger in the elevator door.

Daisy the Cow is the cue for a barrage of bovine jokes, and two singalong opportunities, including that threatened species, the kids plucked from the audience. There's also a vent doll Baby Daisy, and, for the sharp-eyed, an even tinier Daisy poking out from Simple Simon's pyjama pocket. The Giant is memorably done – first as an ominous disembodied voice, then speaking through the mouth of others, and finally appearing as a huge, spectacularly spooky puppet – brought to life by Lyndi Smith.

Something of an end-of-season knees-up feel to this show, with actors who've made 2012 such a successful year for the Mercury allowing themselves one final panto fling. Christine Absalom [Arsenic and Old Lace] makes a wonderful Queen Marj, Clare Humphrey [Top Girls] is Xena, David Tarkenter [Absent Friends]

plays a mean Fleshcreep, with Tim Freeman [Arsenic and Old Lace] as his dimmer sidekick Goosebump, and Ignatius Anthony [Dancing at Lughnasa] is a flamboyant Shakira Trott, seemingly enjoying every cringeworthy moment.

Elsewhere in a very strong ensemble, some welcome returning panto specialists, notably Emily Bull as Mia, Jai Vethamony as the courageous Jack, and the wonderful Dale Superville reviving his Pie Man Simple Simon.

Some impressive talent amongst the Junior Chorus, too; they are given plenty to do, including much of Charlie Morgan's demanding choreography. Familiar hits are pressed into the service of the plot – loved Farmlife, less sure about Imagine in the style of Food Glorious Food. Uncle Graeme Du Fresne is in charge in the pit, and proves a good sport too, in this infectiously funny family pantomime from the Mercury Theatre Company.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Cut to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch

03.12.2012

for The Public Reviews

One of the joys of the Great Traditional British Panto is the pleasure of recognition, familiar friends encountered afresh. And I don't just mean the ghost routine, and milking the cow, and the wallpaper messy scene, though happily all of those are in place at Hornchurch this year. But for those theatres fortunate enough to sustain a resident repertory company, it's the delight of watching actors we've seen through the year letting their hair down in front of a house of screaming kids, high on sweets and fizzy drinks.

Though it's not easy to recognize Simon Jessop, who's Hornchurch's dame this year, under a formidable layer of warpaint, and trussed up in an increasingly fantastical succession of frocks. A paintbrush, a meadow, a candelabra, a cheeky toad in the hole, and a wedding bell amongst others. He gives a shamelessly traditional schtick, with the odd blue note, and keeps the show moving along nicely.

Nicholas Pegg's Jack and the Beanstalk, directed by Matt Devitt, is a pretty traditional affair altogether, with only the occasional reference to popular culture, Downton or Gangnam, to remind us that rationing is over. Dick Emery, Hilda Baker, Terry Scott, even Old Mother Riley, could have stepped into the panto shoes of performers here without having to pause for thought.

So we had sweets thrown out into the audience ["Don't sue me if it takes your eye out …"], a singalong before the wedding, and name-checks from the giant guest book ["3^rd Upminster Beavers"]. But also a ker-ching moment for each of the show's local sponsors, and a plug for next year's Treasure Island.

Not surprising, perhaps, that the older performers are amongst the most impressive this year. Allison Harding is excellent both as the twinkly old lady who tells the tale, and a feisty Northern Mrs Thunderskull the Giant's wife, while James Earl Adair adds another baddie to his repertoire, effortlessly rousing the rabble against his fiendish Fleshcreep. Both beautifully spoken, too.

Natasha Moore, always a favourite, is a charming Jill, though she has a feminist moment at the end, with Alison Thea-Skot as her thigh-slapping Jack. Simple Simon is an instantly likeable Mark Newnham, and Sean Needham gives a copybook Mr Bumble, not a beadle here, but Jill's bluff old dad.

Billy Irving and Samuel Ward-Smith are Buttercup, plus, respectively, the Giant and Minerva the golden egg chicken.

Cut to the Chase, resident company at the Queen's, are joined as ever by three teams of youngsters, given an ambitious routine of their own in Cloudland by choreographer Donna Berlin.

Carol Sloman provides original songs in several genres, including the statutory love duet, a rousing anthem ["Climb"] just before the Act One curtain, and Let's Get Personal for Bumble and Dame Trott; Greg Last – invisible in the depths of the pit – is the Musical Director.

The costumes and the set are sumptuously designed by Mark Walters – dripping with sparkle, and pretty as a picture-book, especially the land above the clouds, the Giant's kitchen and the windmill's rustic interior. Lots of clever touches, too, like the huge duelling utensils, the pinball pudding, the beanstalk itself, huge and pneumatically sinister, and, charmingly old-fashioned ombres chinoises for the prologue and the escape from Castle Thunderskull.

production photos by Nobby Clark

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews