★★★★☆ The Cheltenham Everyman closes out the year with an enjoyable pantomime that neatly encapsulates a traditional silly and raucous family outing, whilst heralding a year of change and ambitious programming for 2019. . . Tweedy’s got an easy and well-practiced rapport with the children in the audience, impressive and energetic clowning antics on stage . . .

★★★★☆ There’s not a complaint to be found in the cast, and as usual I have to commend actors who are called upon to do more than just act on stage. You get your money’s worth for song, dance, puppetry, instrumentation, and the rest of it.

★★☆☆☆ Ultimately what struck me was the dissonance of sensibilities. The staging is very effective at evoking a sense of dread. But as ominous as the lighting, set and scene transitions may be, much of the action within those scenes is more Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It than Hammer horror.

★★★☆☆ Liubov Dobrynina and Dmitry Smekin were both on form as Carmen and Don José, respectively, but it was Valeriya Balandina’s Michaela who seemed to win the most profuse appreciation from the audience. . . All told, I think this a strong production.