It’s that time of year again when we can all go the theatre and lose ourselves for a couple of hours in the slapstick and silliness that is as traditional as turkey at Christmas and that’s the pantomime. Perhaps this year more than ever we all need a little light relief, to be transported to a fantasy world and to forget about the woes that is the world around us right now.
And this year we’ve got a cracker at the Bristol Hippodrome as Cinderella comes to town accompanied by a glittering cast headed by one of TV’s great meanies, and absolutely perfect for the role, as Strictly’s Craig Revel Horwood takes to the boards as Baroness Demonica Hardup. And let’s not forget that Craig is a seasoned performer on stage, after all it’s where he started his career all those years ago back in his native Australia. Expect plenty of Strictly jokes, expect some Horwood dancing, expect comedy and … expect a seriously good night!
We all know the story of the down-trodden Cinderella (Lauren Hampton) bullied by her two “ugly” sisters, rather touchingly called Tess and Claudia (played superbly by Catherine Morris and Leanne Jones) with plenty of big hairdo’s but sadly not a fringe in sight, and how the story unfolds, but this is panto so expect a few surprises.
The show is knitted together by good old Buttons, played by Bristol pantomime regular, Andy Ford who is superb in his role playing the fool as he always does with great aplomb. The jokes flow throughout, although perhaps the most memorable moment was when he was subject to a lie detector test – no spoilers, but let’s just say that it was hilarious and worth the admission alone!
But of course many people will be attracted by THE star, after all it’s what the production is built around. Revel Horwood has earned his chops over his long career, and he doesn’t disappoint taking to the stage like something out of RuPaul’s Drag Race, donning stunning costume after stunning costume and striking just the right balance between not taking himself too seriously and having that little edge of evil that you would expect. He even skilfully avoids corpsing when the rather naughty Buttons, one suspects quite deliberately, goes off script to wrong foot him!
This is a well told tale with lots of action throughout, rolling along at quite a pace with plenty to keep you entertained. There’s bangs, there’s crashes, there’s sparkles, there’s glitter and there’s glamour, and of course there’s hope, desire and greed although of course good prevails in the end.
But a good panto is not just about the stars and the story, there’s a huge amount of work goes into staging a production like this from the ensemble (excellent), costume and make-up (stunning), stage, lighting and orchestration (dazzling) and many, many more too numerous to mention.
But perhaps the most important is the audience and it’s wonderful to see so many children in a major theatre, after all entertaining the family is what panto is all about, and to see and hear them hooting and laughing throughout, is audience participation at its best. For young and old alike there really is only one way to describe the evening and that is…fab-u-lous darlings!
Cinderella runs at the Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday 31 December. For tickets and further information follow this link.
