Oh yes it is, oh no it isn’t…
The annual panto jamboree is in full swing and Londoners are spoilt for choice. So this week we look at the main contenders. Last week I was back at my favourite UK venue (there I’ve put my bias on the table), the Hackney Empire, the splendacious grade II listed building on Mare Street, sandwiched between the Art Deco Town Hall and a plethora of bookmakers, pubs and minimarts. And so it is that the British Empire takes a good kicking in Susie McKenna’s inspired and hugely entertaining reimagining of Dick Whittington and His Cat.
Dashing Dick (Tarinn Callander) arrives in “Hinglan” (you may need to brush up on your Jamaican patois) with the calypso song London is the Place for Me playing in the background. He steps off the Windrush, yes that infamous ship, singing I Dreamed an Impossible Dream, which was true for so many immigrants invited to Great Britain in the 50’s, with the promise of a land of “milk and honey”, having endured countless years of colonisation. The young man is also looking forward to seeing his estranged mother again, Sarah the Cook (Clive Rowe), she having been marooned in Oldham for eight years. Meanwhile Dick’s cat soon becomes his elderly Uncle Vincent the Cat (Kat B) who warns his nephew when going to get his visa to “get a copy…because you knew they a lose dem”. So the rags to riches story begins.
Dick, yes I know and there are jokes aplenty on the theme of his name along with a stream of innuendo and double entendres – the kids in the audience looked perplexed as their parents fell about laughing – finds work in Alderman Fitzwarren’s (Tony Whittle) ship but the stinky Queen Rat (Annette McLaughlin) is up to no good. Thankfully Dick has Fairy Bowbells (Sue Kelvin) on his side. A story oft told but rarely with such style and elan. McKenna’s writing is razor sharp and the traditional panto ‘business’ brilliantly executed. It may seem like a load of laughs to you but it requires superb comic timing and an ability to improvise at the drop of a wig. In one hilarious scene where Rowe, find me a better dame anywhere and I’ll eat my hat, and Whittle are entwined in a saucy duet both their wigs came off, a moment of great hilarity but they put them back on and continued like the seasoned pros that they are. Whittle is the perfect foil to Rowe’s outrageously dressed dame.
The dance numbers are crisp and performed with style and energy by the mixed cast of professionals and local dance school kids. McLaughlin and Kelvin feed off each other’s negative and positive energy while Callander’s excellent singing shines throughout and Kat B is a purr-fect feline (sorry couldn’t resist) full of cheeky one liners and busting moves while looking “stoosh”. This is a topical treat – Boris is sidekick to Queen Rat – and once again Hackney has laid down the gauntlet for every other panto in town and anywhere else for that matter. Oh yes it has.
Meanwhile Sotira Kyriakides believes she has strong rivals elsewhere…
Barney tells me every year that Hackney is unbeatable. Not so, the Greenwich Theatre does the best panto in town, and that comes from someone who has seen their productions for several years running. This year it’s a twist on the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, once again written, directed by and starring the amazing Andrew Pollard. What characterises his work is a love for good old fashioned panto essentials of laugh-a minute carry-on banter and slapstick, with hyper-camp performances and lashings of innuendo.
As on previous occasions, the emphasis is on fun in true English seaside humour style, elevating this artform to the pedestal it deserves. As the dame, Pollard is archetypal in his OTT combination of vulgarity and joie de vivre, and the rest of the gang match up to the standards he sets. Another Greenwich mainstay is Anthony Spargo as the baddie, and his Rasputin is textbook villain. Special mentions also go to the costume, headdress and hat-makers for their amazingly crazy fashion parade. And since this is Parikiaki, a bit of Cypriot talent-spotting too: the excellent lighting designers for the show are Angelo Constantinou and Max Blackman, who over the past twenty years have worked on many fringe productions as well as high profile corporate clients. A “Souf” London gem.
Meanwhile a hop, skip and a jump from Hackney, there’s another Dick in town. Yes Stratford East are up to mischief with their own version of Dick Whittington. A theatre with a legacy of radicalism and ‘”tearing up the rulebook”, Nadia Fall, Artistic Director, promises “something truly unique…a real treat”, and she delivers. This panto staple, the story of a boy who decides to up sticks to seek his fortune in London, provides an excuse for a focus on contemporary politics – from Brexit to Boris, from capitalist greed to racism and the need for tolerance. This could have been oh-so-worthy and dull, but this production never forgets that panto also needs satire, humour, banter and innuendo galore in equal measure.
The result is a very entertaining mix of shenanigans, combined with politics and the story’s fairy tale roots and altruistic message. Another great ingredient is the East End setting with Dick heading off from his mum’s turnip farm in Romford to come to Stratford – the “ford that struts” – via Catford, where he meets – who else? – but Nathaniel, the cat whose dream is to be a dog. The cast are excellent. Special mention goes to Severine Howell-Meri for her spirited and inspirational Dick Whittington, whilst Harry Jardine is hilarious as the confused, canine wannabe Nathaniel, and a mean rapper to boot. Tom Giles’s superbly dashing King Rat is a villain who it’s very hard to hate. A treat promised, a treat delivered!
Sad to report my final panto outing did not lay the expected golden egg. Mother Goose (Millfield Theatre) lurks lazily on the side of pedantic preaching and the first half, with mummy goose too brassic to pay the rent, just plods along. Paul Cleveland’s dame may sound like Lily Savage’s but comes nowhere near matching her acting or humour. Neither does the smarmy, goody-goody characterisation of the aptly-named Silly Billy, Mother Goose’s son.
Thankfully the second half picks up momentum and with it more of the panto spirit. Mother Goose becomes sassy and loud with some good gags. Meanwhile, the Squire (excellently played by Philip Lee), who has been hitherto busy trying to get his rent, is now in full camp throttle as he vies for Mother Goose’s attentions and hand in marriage. Other saving graces are the troupe of children, with a couple of the youngest ones managing to be especially cute as they go through their dance routines.
More scrambled than golden.
But Rubina Kangaris begs to differ…
Step aside pantomimes, I have a show that is classic Christmas with a twist. Piers Torday’s Christmas Carol: A Fairy Tale (Wilton’s Music Hall) is a wonderful reimagining of Dickens featuring Fan Scrooge (Sally Dexter) sister of Ebeneezer and widow of Jacob Marley (Brandan Hooper). It’s an absolute gem of a show that has magic, music and phenomenal puppetry with the giant one being a show stealer.
Stephanie Street directs a brilliant cast who swap roles in a jiffy and the imaginative costumes add lots of spooky spice to the occasion. The headlines are all about the first female Scrooge but the show is much more than just that, like a festive allegory for our times and raises a number of topical issues without ever crossing that line into a campaign. This is a strong independent woman on a mission. Where men lead she does not follow and the message is clear – remember those who have nothing want nothing more than a chance to live their lives like the rest of us. A show that feels like chestnuts roasting by the fire and something to give cheer to one and all.
Finally, Vivat Stactou is in awe of a rare talent…
Bolshoi ballerina Svetlana Zakharova gives to ballet what Grace Jones gives to pop music. A presence and style that draws you in as if they have cast a spell. Last week at The London Coliseum she starred in an intriguing double bill. First up was the UK premiere of Come Un Respiro, choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti, a work set to the music of Handel and the closest thing I’ve seen to a modern art installation on stage. Male lead was Jacopo Tissi. It was a quirky piece and the solos and pas de deux were delivered with style despite the strange Handel score. The supporting dancers were equally graceful and stylish.
Part two told the story of fashion legend Coco Chanel – Gabrielle Chanel. Performed in eight vignettes in a variety of settings, with some amazing musical accompaniment, it gave Zakharova an opportunity to display the full range of her talents. Dressed to look like Chanel she looked in the mirror and began the journey of looking back. Her technique remains impeccable and her transformation into Chanel was equally en pointe. Yuri Possokhov’s choreography was outstanding and her pas de deux with Mikhail Lobukhin was sensational and very sexy. Sex on legs you might say. The ending sees her all alone on that huge stage. Wild applause and standing ovations followed. Zakharova is the greatest ballet talent that I have ever seen. A thousand bravos!
Dick Whittington and His Cat – 020 8985 2424
Sleeping Beauty – 020 8858 7755
Dick Whittington – 020 8534 0310
Mother Goose – 020 8807 6680
Christmas Carol: A Fairy Tale – 020 7702 2789
