The UK Pantomime Awards: A Roundup!

The UK Pantomime Awards were held on Tuesday 19th April at the beautifully refurbished Trafalgar Theatre in the heart of London’s West End celebrating the achievements of the 2021/22 season where Venues and Producers had to battle to keep the shows on as Covid symptoms affected cast, crew and front of house staff. It was a magnificent opportunity to share stories and applaud successes with all the major Pantomime Producers and many of the in-House shows being represented there. The main sponsors Butlins added to the fun with four redcoats on the red carpet and assisting in the Awards.

Of course, there are over 200 professional Pantomime each year, so the competition was fierce with shows nominated from across the breadth of the UK from the Millennium Forum in Londonderry (Best Panto 900+) in the West to the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich in the East of England (Best Panto 900+) to Eden Court Inverness (Best Panto under 500 seats) in the North to the Octagon Yeovil (Best Principal Girl nominee) in the Southwest and all places in between.

REVIEW: Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the Birmingham Hippodrome

As the end of January approached the 2021/22 Pantomime season draws to a close and Producers across the UK reflect on the extraordinary challenges, they have faced in making sure the “show must go on”. Changing Government regulations, audiences’ reluctance to go to theatre with a mask on and some worried about going if others don’t wear them, and of course Covid hitting cast and crew requiring understudies to step up to fill the gaps or rapid reblocking or rehearsing replacements. It will be a season that they don’t forget, and we hope the financial implications of cancelled shows will not hit regional theatre in a terminal way.

Birmingham Hippodrome’s Goldilocks and the Three bears did not escape these challenges. Traditionally one of the last to open on 18th December and one of last to close, in its final week to its last performances on 30th January it looked like a full cast and ensemble. Jonny Mac had been brought in from Scotland to cover for Matt Slack early in the run and at times many of the Ensemble were off, so we were lucky to see the show as intended on free Newspaper promotional tickets. Indeed, it was unusual to see so many seats in this wonderful venue empty suggesting it too has seen tickets sales hit, with the Programme cost cut from £5 to £2 to clear stocks another sign of lower sales than usual.

REVIEW: Cinderella at the Theatre Royal Bath

While many Pantomimes close around New Year’s Day each year, the Theatre Royal Bath’s production usually runs until the following weekend and this year it’s Cinderella closes on the 9th of January. It’s a great time to visit Bath as the streets are quieter and you can appreciate the wonderful architecture of this lovely Georgian City and there can’t be a more wonderful setting for a traditional family pantomime than this beautiful venue. Jon Monie must love this place too as this is his 19th season in Pantomime here and with over 1000 performances behind him, he has the experience and knowledge on how to write and deliver a very well-judged and balanced show. It clearly was enjoyed by the schools’ parties at the matinee I attended but had plenty of cheeky innuendo for the adults to enjoy (with only a joke about Strange-ways Prison overstepping the mark).

His script, in the hands of Director Hannah Sharkey with a very good ensemble cast, is an excellent combination of traditional storytelling, a fresh injection of ideas into some of the standard pantomime business and music choices with new lyrics that flow from the story. The whole production is well-staged in another UK Production set design by Charlie Camm, Jon Harris and Jason Bishop with an attractive practical village scene, a very successful transformation scene from Kitchen to Coach and a clever touch when Cinders is hidden from Charming by the Ugly Sisters. This all adds up into an excellent showcase of the skills of the cast to entertain young and old. 

REVIEW: Pantoland at the London Palladium

The London Palladium has always been the West End home of variety and for a while as the posters on the proscenium arch remind us for a while was the leading venue for Panto too. This year they celebrate both British entertainment genres in a tailor-made show Pantoland at the Palladium. In recent years Michael Harrison has produced some spectacular pantomimes excelling in staging, special effects, costumes and choreography and versions of these productions now spend Christmas at the largest regional venues.

This show was designed as a one-off in 2020 but when it was cut short early by covid restrictions it became inevitable that it would return this year with some cast availability modifications. Indeed, those upgrade the show into a joyous uplifting celebration of the venue with Donny Osmond headlining and reminiscing about a royal variety show there some fifty years ago and the gorgeous high kicking Tiller Girls being reformed to grace the stage again. It is NOT a Pantomime but a celebration of some of the elements that are included in Pantomime and is billed as a “Feel-good spectacular”.

REVIEW: Cinderella at the Corn Exchange, Newbury

For their last performance of 2021, the Newbury production of Cinderella had to adjust with Jordon Benjamin stepping up from an Ensemble of two into the leading role of Prince Charming as the understudy for William Beckerleg but his confident stage presence covered any uncertainty over filing the role. Indeed, the whole cast looks like they are enjoying themselves in the knowledge that the creative team behind the show have developed an imaginative and fresh take on the familiar title and perhaps that there were only four more shows until the end of the run!

The script by Clare Prested, Adam Brown (who also directs) and Amanda Wilsher is full of clever fresh ideas that breathes new life into the story and dispenses with the Buttons character. This spreads the responsibility for the comedy to the rest of the cast and they rise to the challenge wonderfully. The Dandini character is elevated to the comical Deldini borrowing heavily from Only Fools and Horses and brilliantly incorporating the famous bar scene collapse. Billy Robert’s is excellent in the role of creating the chirpy East End chappie.

REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast at The Anvil Arts Theatre

The main Pantomime season closes around New Year and as Producers breathed a sigh of relief that the Westminster Government did not close them down as the Scottish and Welsh governments did to their venues, they continue to navigate the dreaded Covid test text each morning to see if they have a full cast. UK Production’s show of Beauty and the Beast suffered the loss of its Beast allowing the understudy to move up from the Ensemble to the Title character. It adds an extra dimension to the performances and a warm appreciation from the audience so pleased that the show they booked is on.

This script by Jon Monie won a best script Pantomime award at Blackpool Grand in 2018 and had an outing at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2019 so the cast knows they are working with a solid base but as always, they have to bring the energy and timing to the stage to bring it to life successfully. Alongside the Understudy stepping in, it is pleasing to report that they rise to the challenge and deliver an upbeat romantic gentle comedy version of the story. The basic tale set in France remains but the Disney characters of Lumiere and Cogsworth are replaced by the comedy partnership of Nick Wilton as Polly La Plonk and Chris Pizzey as her son Louis, the Beast’s servants, to give it a strong pantomime feel. 

REVIEW: Cinderella at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

The Mayflower Southampton posters have Craig Revel Horwood and Debbie McGee as the headliners, but it is Richard Cadell as Buttons with his co-star Sooty that makes this show stand out from the crowd this Christmas with a high energy magical performance that supports the narrative but equally entertains with some spectacular illusions and charming comedy with his puppets. Horwood as the aloof villainess stepmother Baroness Demonica and McGee as the Fairy Godmother look the part as they elegantly sashay on and off but only occasionally get a chance to take centre stage. Indeed, when they finally get to look for Cinderella to try on the slipper it is Sooty’s magic rather than the Fairy Godmother that locates her.

The Mayflower stage is wide and deep with plenty of wing space, and this enables the production to include a lot of large props to support the cast. Horwood arrives on a golf buggy, Cadell arrives on a motorbike in a brilliant illusion, Sooty enters on a mini camper van and Cinderella departs for the Ball on a flying coach and horses over the audience (although unusually the lights cues were late and revealed the lifting mechanism as it took off). Cadell also includes a delightfully cute illusion where cast members appear under cloths from an apparently empty cubicle and a spectacular escape from a hanging box chopped up by a set of chain saws. He completes his magic performances with a comedy routine with Sooty under three buckets bringing a fresh twist to the ball and cups street magic. They are all shoehorned into the narrative but are executed with such skill and energy that we simply sit back and enjoy the presentation. 

REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast at the Hexagon, Reading

Justin Fletcher knows his audience and has written a perfectly pitched version of Beauty and the Beast as a pantomime for this Christmas at the Hexagon in Reading and stars as Billy Pastry with his comedy soul mate Paul Morse who returns as Dame Nanny Pastry for an eighth year. They have a lovely relationship on stage, a well-crafted partnership that delivers all the classic pantomime routines with great skill, timing, and physical reactions. The result is some of the loudest and most consistent audience reactions that you will hear this season.

Their production includes many of the classic routines that are part of Pantomime history such as a delivery to the houses of Mr Who, Mr What and Mr Idon’tknow, the classic baking scene with plenty of slosh, a fresh feeling lip-sync routine, a standard “If I was not upon the stage”, and the usual Ghost bench scene, this time with a wolf. Each is delivered with discipline, care, and good comic timing to maximize the audience reaction. However, it was the return, “by popular demand”, of the Balletic balloon dance by Dame Busty Darcell and Rudolph Nurafen that once again gets the most laughs. The simplicity of the few words spoken in it, the perfection of the ballet steps and the business with the balloons is so clever it stands repeat viewing and is the show highlight. All the routines are carefully integrated so they flow from the narrative development naturally.

Pocket Picks: Our top Pantomimes of 2021!

Pantomime is one of the greatest British festive traditions, bringing so many people to theatres; some for the first time and some as a yearly tradition. We look back at some of the pantomimes we've reviewed here at Pocket so far this year and pick out some of the highlights! But even though we're choosing our favourites, we must send our admiration to all those involved in theatre across the UK, whether in a panto or anything else. With closures happening all over due to the pandemic yet again, it has reminded us how privileged we are to get to experience the joy that is live theatre. So keep supporting your local venues, and go see a panto!

Sleeping Beauty at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley ★★★★★

"...this year we’ve got a couple of proper names in the always good value, Bonnie Langford and Lee Mead. Along with Myra Dubois as the wicked fairy, Lloyd Hollett as Muddles, the Court Jester, Claudillea Holloway as the princess and Joelle Moses as the Queen, this combination proves to be the best overall cast I can recall." 

Sleeping Beauty at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley is running until the 2nd January 2022. Click here to book tickets. 

Click here to read the full review

REVIEW: Aladdin at the Manchester Opera House

The production at Manchester Opera House of Aladdin shows what can be achieved if you have a strongly committed cast giving it their all to deliver a perfect Christmas Entertainment as they take a standard Alan McHugh script and inject it with passion, comedy, and energy. It must be tempting for the cast to think they need to pace themselves over fifty shows, but the audience needs to believe that in this show the cast are throwing everything at it and are loving the result. This cast led by Alexandra Burke, who is becoming an accomplished musical theatre performer and the irrepressible cheeky chappie, Ben Nickless, with fab-u-Lous support from Ceri Dupree and a powerful controlled performance by John McLarnon as Abanazar gave that impression on a Monday night that they were having as much fun on stage as we were having watching them. It was a practically perfect execution of pantomime.

Ben Nickless packs a great deal of comedy routines into the two-hour 10-minute running time including interval but there is still plenty of time for the others to shine. His impressions are good (Alan Carr, John Bishop, Michael McIntyre, Keith Lemon, Harry Redknapp, and The Simpsons), his political digs are witty rather than bitter, his covid gags seem appropriate and his reactions and engagement with the cast and audience is superb throughout. It is a hilarious gag when he explains he learned to be a Ventriloquist during lockdown, but the dummy requires him to wear a mask as he is within two metres. He also breathes fresh life into the Producer’s Crossroads standard routines of the trunk of truth, one shirt short tongue twister, and if I was not upon the stage working well with the other cast members. His execution of the DVD titles story with Dupree is fun and silly and his dance-off with Burke is wonderful showing they can both move well and have funny bones.

REVIEW: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Bristol Hippodrome

As the Welsh Government heartbreakingly and seemingly prematurely shut Welsh Theatres after Christmas due to the perceived risk of the Omicron variant of Delta, less than 30 minutes drive away I was able to join a packed house at the lovely Bristol Hippodrome for a wonderful fun Snow White. Having been required to show my triple jabbed Covid Pass to enter and wearing a mask it was otherwise like the good old days of families enjoying a Christmas Treat. Why can’t they publish the evidence of how many people in the last month have caught Covid after a booster jab and wearing a mask at a Theatre and ended up feeling ill enough for hospital admission? It is time to stop playing politics and start giving us the data in enough detail so we can make up our own minds.

Those who decide that going to the Theatre is safer than going to the shops for your Christmas shopping are in for a treat with this excellent version of Snow White with beautiful costumes, stellar performances, and plenty of laughs together as a family. It is broadly the same script as the Swansea Grand Theatre, but Andy Ford, Lesley Joseph and Judge Rob Rinder give a master class in the execution of tried and tested routines from start to finish, and the audience roared their approval.

The Seven Dwarfs are again played by men on their knees and open the show in a strong clear scene setter but really burst into life when they return riding a lovely selection of woodland animals. This frees them up to move more easily and brings more humour and movement to the scene and when joined by Andy Ford riding an invisible Giraffe makes for a madcap amusing meeting with Snow White. 

REVIEW: Cinderella at the Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent

My last visit to the Regent Stoke on Trent was in 2006 to see Jonathan Wilkes in pantomime so it was with pleasure and anticipation that we returned to see him in Cinderella this December. In the intervening fifteen years, he has developed a strong comedy partnership with Christian Patterson (who also directs this show) and a powerful connection with the Stoke on Trent audience even though he appears to be a Port Vale FC fan. That rapport is visible from his first appearance from a spurious spacecraft cut out and together they pack plenty of jokes and a lot of adult innuendo into the first thirty minutes. It is a bit of a whirlwind with the rest of the cast very much in subsidiary roles. 

Alan McHugh’s 2021 scripts which underpin most of the Crossroads shows set up some standard pantomime business with a music lip-sync routine, twelve days of Christmas pandemonium and the Suzie Shaw tongue twister. For the first time audience member, these routines generate lots of laughs although they have little to do with the narrative and are barely adapted to each title. Patterson has clearly added to the script some of the best lines that land with the audience and each is delightfully pointed and reacted to by Wilkes and Patterson as Buttons and the Dame (this year). They perform the Balloon ballet at the Ball, but you will see better versions elsewhere like in Reading’s Cinderella with Justin Fletcher and Paul Morse. The DVD storytelling routine is executed well with plenty of innuendoes! They pack plenty of effort into a sing-off routine to replace the traditional song sheet and get a strong response from the audience.

REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast at the Poole Lighthouse

The Poole Lighthouse programme very carefully describes the origins of the Beauty and the Beast story as being from 1537 when Petrus was treated as a wild animal and was married to Catherine and suggests that elements of the story are shared with the myth of Cupid and Psyche. It became a published story in 1740 as Beauty and the Beast but is perhaps best known to current generations from the 1991 Disney Film promoted as “a tale as old as time”. 

Chris Jarvis’s script turns an Andrew Pollard version of the story into a pantomime creating French-speaking characters living in Paris who are transported to Poole under the watchful eye of Cupid with the sub-billing “a tale as old as pantomime” and takes the role of Dame Betty BonBon as well as directing the show. It gives the story a fresh, up to date look with a fun feel-good flavour that entertains young and old in the best traditions of Pantomime. They keep the run time tight, ensure the songs flow out of the narrative and litter the script with the usual mix of old and new jokes (not all of which land) and some double entendre. 

REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk at the Camberley Theatre

All around the country Pantomimes are opening to entertain their local communities this Christmas in a critical period for the financial health of that theatre for the year ahead after a turbulent last eighteen months for the sector. The Producers have a difficult balance to strike between the cost of investing in the production and the risks to the income generated in this environment with some audiences nervous about returning to live theatre. The result is that smaller venues have to put on a production at a fraction of the cost of larger city venues and inevitably it is harder to create a consistently good show. Venues like the small Camberley Theatre need our support and we want them to succeed in continuing to bring live entertainment to their community. 

This year their production is Jack and the Beanstalk with Suzi Budd returning as Director doubling up as an excellent villain Fleshcreep and Thomas Andrew Smith returning for a seventh season as choreographer and the trainee fairy Colin, and the show depends on their contribution for its energy and creativity. They are the best two performers in the show and give it a lift when they are on stage with a good stage presence and reactions.

REVIEW: Cinderella at the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea

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”!

REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford

Pantomime is at its best when the cast works together with energy as a team to deliver the show and the pace and balance of the production is maintained through the production. Christopher Biggins is a hugely experienced Dame but at seventy-two and with a knee replacement earlier this year he needs to pace himself through the show which he does with elegant ease popping on and off the stage at regular intervals like a watchful mother of the show. He has worked before with Rikki Jay who plays Simon and David O’Mahony who plays Fleshcreep and you sense that these two inject the energy and changes of pace the show needs around him. They make a great threesome driving the show forward. 

Jay bounces around the stage, looking like he is enjoying himself which helps engage the audience and keep the atmosphere lively as he builds a strong rapport with them. He delivers the shopping trolley sketch with great skill and lovely asides to the audience with the help of King Crumble (Derek Elroy). The standard Mastermind sketch and Lip sync challenge routines are delivered as if brand new and generate good laughs as does the other Crossroads standard, “Shirley shaw sells sushi”. The audience reaction reaches fever pitch in the song sheet replacement of “Bobbing up and down” which sees the whole audience joining in and rising and sitting on each word beginning with B to draw the show to a close.

REVIEW: Aladdin at the New Theatre, Cardiff

The Chuckle Brothers were one of the very best Pantomime acts and children's entertainers and following the death of Barry Chuckle in 2018, Paul has since kept the legacy of their act alive in Pantomime with different partners in the same routines. Here in Cardiff he plays Wishee Washee and opens with his traditional song “I have got some ..” on his own, does a bog-standard Mastermind Sketch and follows with the Cucumber cutting routine with the Genie and then the singing lesson with the Dame and a member of Ensemble, all the elements are there but the comedy magic of the brother's relationship is missing and the routines feel like they need a refresh. A new routine with a music player alongside the Dame falls flat despite their best efforts. He remains a wonderful old school variety Entertainer but is no longer in charge of the Pantomime.

Unusually for modern Pantomime, the drive of the show falls to the Principal Boy and Principal Girl who rise to the challenge magnificently in their songs and dances together. Denquar Chupak is excellent as Princess Jasmine and makes a good impression from her opening song where she is joined by Gareth Gates as Aladdin and later together in “Hung Up” and “Nights get colder”. She also takes on the key fight scene to defeat Abanazar to give the story a modernised feel. Gates gets his show highlight when he flies on the Twins FX flying carpet over the audience to end Act 1.

REVIEW: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Swansea Grand Theatre

Kevin Johns has played pantomime for 29 years and this is his 23rd at the Grand Swansea and that experience and affection from the audience crosses the footlights as this he plays Dame Betty in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He is a wonderful Dame and delivers his lines with a delightful Welsh glee and reminds us of the great Music Hall artists as he holds court centre stage in a series of set-piece routines that have little to do with this traditional pantomime story. 

He is joined on stage in a double act by the impressionist Jon Clegg (who found fame in 2014 Britain’s Got Talent) as Muddles who has his own set-piece routines with excellent impressions of Boris Johnson, Michael McIntyre, Ant and Dec, Rob Bryden, Sarah Millican, Alan Carr, John Bishop and Trump. Each are instantly recognisable and amusing but the material relies on recognition rather than a clever gag. His high energy madcap style keeps the audience engaged in the first half.

REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk at the Hackney Empire

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas which means it’s panto season once more…oh yes it is! After a year where most pantomimes were cancelled or had an unexpected, limited run it feels extra special for the magic of this beloved festive tradition to return. This Festive season The Hackney Empire, famed for their pantomimes over the years, brings the classic fairytale of “Jack and the Beanstalk” to life. 

I felt a warm welcome to my first experience of this iconic venue from arrival, especially warm as the interior was trimmed with wreaths and beautiful trees. The Panto programme is full of colourful pictures, games and puzzles for children (and most likely the adults too) to enjoy playing along with. I attended a 1.30 matinee which meant that the majority of the audience was very excited school children. The anticipation for the show was heightened with cast members dressed as newspaper sellers appearing on different levels of the theatre followed by a much-enjoyed countdown! 

REVIEW: Snow White and Seven Dwarfs at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

Pantomime is back in Woking with a bang in an excellent version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a strong cast, a lively ensemble of eight and some great comic pantomime business in a bright colourful funny production that was a delight to watch. They packed a lot into the two-hour running time and the Principals worked extremely well together.

Gok Wan has developed a confident stage presence as the Man in the Mirror from his first entrance flown in on that mirror. He struts across the forestage engaging the audience with charm and wit and becomes a very good foil for Aaron James as Muddles whose comedy routines were delivered with great timing. Gok feeds Aaron the lines for an excellent music clips routine which is as good as you will see this Christmas and then joins him for the classic ghost’s bench scene and the traditional 12 days of Christmas. James also delivers a fresh take on the shopping trolley full of props to tell a witty story that was a show highlight and delivers a good monologue of A to Z of impressions.