Far away in the village of Camembert, the ‘Cross-Channel’ Fairy Bon Bon offers her assistance to the lovely Belle, a young woman yet to meet her fate in the great castle looming in the distance. The scene was set for a rollicking two hours of fun in the experienced hands of the irrepressible Jon Monie as Louis la Plonk and Nick Wilton as his mum, Polly, The Beast’s housekeeper.

Production values are sky high for this popular Christmas classic, with enough glitter to decorate a forest of Christmas trees and scene changes aplenty, seamlessly threaded together. The support cast of six dancers and excellent performances by the children from the Dorothy Coleborn School of Dance swelled the ranks with yet more colour and movement. Fine musical backing from a three-piece band pumped energy into the musical numbers and if there was one thing I took away on the night it was how well everyone could sing! The Beast’s (Shaun Dalton) Unsettled Scores from Whistle Down the Wind, Belle’s Shallow from A Star Is Born and Bon Bon’s Everything’s Coming Up Roses from Gypsy were all high points.

Clare Maynard brought some assertiveness to her Belle – it wasn’t just the Beast making the moves here – as well as some heart-felt scenes with her impoverished artist dad, Clement (Marcus Knibbs). Shaun Dalton certainly cut the mustard as the hirsute one. At six-foot five and armed with a naturally big voice, his was an impressive Beast. His transformation to manhood later was literally revolutionary. Ben Harlow seemed to enjoy milking the boos for his portrayal of the pantomime baddy, the impossibly vain Hugo Pompidou, while Wendi Peters as Bon Bon was a twinkly, kindly presence throughout, given to popping on stage left with plenty of pink smoke in attendance.

No panto would be complete without a chaotic kitchen scene, and Monie and Wilton served up some classic nonsense with some occasionally risqué baguettes getting the better of them. A de-rigour ghost scene didn’t disappoint, with the kids’ in the audience screaming at fever pitch when ghouls flitted ‘behind them’. A castle bedroom scene, in which the ridiculously overdressed dressed Polly and her son experience more spooky goings on is a treat, with beds disappearing into the wall and occupants re-appearing elsewhere. Monie and Wilton’s timing was spot-on and the two never failed to engage the audience with witty asides.

Monie’s prize-winning script made the most of current affairs, with some amusing digs at Brexit and Trump woven into a fast-moving script. Belle’s “I feel like Melania” after some rough treatment from the Beast got good reaction from the audience.

All the classic panto moments are here – sweets thrown into the audience, the audience singalong, the parish notices and four children getting goody bags onstage, before the inevitable marriage finale, for which the costume designers had thrown away all caution. All as good as a flaming Christmas pud.     ★★★★☆      Simon Bishop   14^th December 2019

Photos by Freia Turland

Click here to read Simon Bishop’s interviews with the stars of the show before they started rehearsals.