REVIEW: Jack & the Beanstalk at the Everyman Theatre
"Guaranteed festive fun and frolics! The Everyman panto never fails to please!"
Panto season is upon us and yet again the Everyman Theatre have delivered a fantastic family friendly festive event.
This year’s panto is Jack and the Beanstalk. The classic story of Jack who is forced to sell the family cow Buttercup in order to pay the family taxes. He returns home after unwittingly exchanging the cow for a handful of magic beans which grow into a sky-scraping giant beanstalk overnight. The beanstalk paves the way for our hero to climb up to No Mans Land, rescue his sweetheart Jill from the clasps of the evil Giant Blunderbore, and restore harmony to his home village.
Everyman panto favourites are back. Tweedy the Clown playing Sillie Billie Tweedy and William Elliot as his mother Dame Trott are the perfect comedy duo and the banter bounces back and forth between the two with ease. Children absolutely love them but there are also some great innuendos and laughs for the adults. We had lots of thigh slapping from Jack played by Frankie Jones, and the villain Fleshcreep played by Andrew Westfield was the recipient of the boos and hisses this year. All the traditional panto elements are there with a few modern twists - and it was good to see a traditional pantomime cow again.
This year there is an element of Stars Wars going on – we loved Dame Trott's Princess Leai outfit! The highflying panto fairy played by Gillian Elisa has gone green and becomes Eco Fairy this year. One of the highlights for us was Tweedy and his balloon act – hilarious! There’s a bit of a twist on the Giant as well, but that’s all we will say.
The performance complete with the brilliant sets and costumes that we have come to expect was supported this year by dancers from the Janet Marshall Dance Studios.
Jack and the Beanstalk runs until 8 January. Tickets are selling fast with some dates already sold out.
Photos courtesy of TWM Productions. www.thousandwordmedia.com
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