One of the more surprising effects of climate change is that
panto season now seems to stretch all year round. At least it certainly does in
St Helens, with the Theatre Royal rolling out the glitter and the drag four
times a year. When it packs houses with families as well as this, it provides both
a welcome holiday pastime for the children and a sure fire hit for the theatre.
This autumn sees Regal Entertainments bring Liam Mellor’s
version of Sleeping Beauty back to the stage, with Lewis Devine in the role of
Chester the Jester, a character which Mellor originally wrote for and performed
himself when the show was first produced.
Devine throws all his energy into the part, which sees him
onstage for the majority of the show. He is a popular favourite with the St
Helens audience, who seem to let him get away with some very close to the
knuckle dialogue, which includes jokes about a teacher having a crush on a pupil
and suggestions of incest. But then this is panto, so I guess we have to put
any ideas of propriety on the shelf for the evening. Nonetheless, parents of
smaller children might expect to have some awkward explaining to do at
breakfast the next day.
Mellor’s version of the story sees an unusually early
appearance of Prince George, long before Sleeping Beauty encounters the
spinning wheel. Having been captured by the evil Carabosse he has to be rescued
in order to wake his princess. It confounds any idea of 100 years of slumber
but provides an opportunity for some good set pieces in the rescue mission. It
also means that the prince gets more stage time than usual, which is a big plus
when played as dashingly as he is here by James Lacey, who proves himself to be
in fine voice.
In fact the entire cast are good vocalists. This makes the
musical numbers the highlights of the show, accompanied as they are by enthusiastic
and well choreographed performances by the troupe of senior and junior dancers.
Abigail Middleton justifies her character’s name as Fairy Sparkle, Warren
Donnelly is a suitably jolly King. Si Foster makes the most of the relatively
small role of Dame Queenie in this production, receiving a rapturous reception
from the crowd. Samantha Palin is crack-shot casting as Carabosse, and
absolutely revels in the switch to an evil fairy after her previous outing here
as a Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.
The show rattles along at a good pace and doesn’t drag
itself out to an excessive running time, with the usual set panto elements
dispatched pretty swiftly, although there is one slapstick wallpapering
sequence that seems to have mysteriously snuck into the proceedings for no
explicable reason.
Sleeping Beauty is a rollicking, if occasionally over-risqué,
piece of family entertainment that lights up a dull October evening with plenty
of sparkle and a few pyrotechnics to boot. A great value autumn treat for those
who can’t wait till Christmas for a fix of fun and foolery.
Star Rating: Three Stars
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