Brian Conley is one of the modern Kings of Pantomime and from his first appearance he effortlessly had a young audience eating out of his hands whatever he did. With a little bit of effort on some fresher material, he would have had them rolling in the aisles too. He engages with the audience well, although the show is all about him, “I am on the poster” he repeatedly tells us and indeed none of the rest of the cast gets any subsidiary billing at all. He also co-wrote the script with the legendary master of Pantomime Michael Harrison who runs the Production Company Crossroads, so they certainly know what works. Conley’s material has worked for years, and he delivers it professionally but in a mechanical way perhaps holding back early in the run. The Masked Singer gag was a good idea underdeveloped, Dangerous Buttons fell flat, and the song on the log wall with the Prince and Cinders upset the balance of the scene where Cinders and Prince first meet.
There is in fact a very good supporting cast but the interaction between them under Kathryn Rooney’s direction does not create the feel of an ensemble cast working together to deliver the show. This is particularly true of the two excellent Ugly Sisters the tall Ben Stock and the shorter Neal Wright. They have little of their own business and are underused although they do get to do a rather lame electrocution sketch with Conley. Stock’s reactions to whatever is happening are wonderful and they have some marvellous costumes including too stunning Chandelier dresses for the Ball. They deserved more stage time to truly demonstrate their statement “aren’t we gorgeous”!
