There’s a bit of a fad amongst chefs for ‘deconstructing’ old favourite recipes. Thus you might find yourself eating a bit of crumbly something or other with something lemony and another item of creamy stuff all going under the name of ‘cheesecake’. Eric Potts, in writing a version of Cinderella that can accommodate the extraordinary and much loved talents of Torvill and Dean has done something similar for pantomime. So, if you have any previous acquaintance with panto, all the bits you would expect to find are there: a chance meeting, love at first sight, a loss, a quest, a grand ball, a couple of squawky grotesques, injustice, a lovelorn yet very helpful gofer, a fresh faced Prince and (camp) sidekick, an ineffective Baron and some fairy dust. Songs, dance, colourful Ruritanian costumes and a very glittery set all complete the package. What more could you want? Ponies? You’ve got them.
There is a plot of sorts, but the main business of the evening is entertainment. Anyone in any doubt that this is interactive theatre has their mind immediately put at rest by some booing practice before the show starts, followed by some gently cajoling greeting training from a very jolly and bearded Buttons in the shape of Jarred Christmas who quickly puts us straight over some of the finer distinctions between Australia and his native New Zealand.
The path of true love is very nearly thwarted by the machinations of the delightfully obnoxious step-sisters only to be set back on track by Cinderella’s (unknown to her) fairy godparents. These perennial do-gooders are in fact King Crispin and Queen Juniper (our Jayne and Chris) who glide in from their ice kingdom (on roller blades) to salvage the incipient love-match by ensuring Cinders does go to the ball. The rest of course is history, which is only interrupted by Bolero, which Chris has jokingly been itching to do all the way through. But this is not Bolero as you will have remembered it from the Olympics, this is a re-imagined aerial dance which, literally, takes the piece to a new level.
Rhiannon Chesterman is the put-upon Cinders who catches the heart of Blair Gibson’s freshly minted Prince Charming. Ms Chesterman, no less charming, has a powerful and expressive singing voice, which certainly didn’t need to be mic’d up in order to fill the Hippodrome. Samuel Holmes as Dandini gets to flaunt his stuff and give a bit of a show stopper with the Newley/Bricusse song, Feeling Good which kicks off act 2. The perky villagers who include dancers from the Bristol School of Performing Arts and Bristol School of Dancing round off the cast. The band, under Malcolm Forbes-Peckham, add the final gloss to this lavish production which delighted the press-night audience, many of whom were having their first taste of top class entertainment.
This Christmas panto gently nudges the boundaries of the tradition and in doing so fills the theatre with all round family entertainment. ★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 15th December 2016
