Cinderella Capturing The Pantomime Spirit

The last pantomime I went to, it was so awful that I felt compelled to convince the grandchildren that the interval was the end of the show. Ice creams helped smooth a decorous exit.

No such tactics required for Nick Lane's adaptation of the Grimms' fairy story: it was engaging from beginning to end with a cast generating megawatts of energy. It had all the usual pantomime tropes (Oh yes it did), however Cinderella (Eve De Leon Allen), was a very different kind of hero and Prince Charming (and other roles - David Fallon) was anything but.

The plot revolves around a newly promoted fairy (and other roles - Lucy Keiri), who has learned the fairy trade in the tooth department, but is now training to become a fairy godmother. It is the vicissitudes of her adventures, paralleling those of Cinderella, that motivates most of the narrative.

Director Gemma Fairlie controlled the roller coaster with pinpoint accuracy. With so few actors who doubled and tripled up in so many parts, the question of costume changes alone must have posed a major logistical challenge. All those entrances and exits with the right costume waiting in the voms – head spinning stuff.

Once you have the actors organised for action, to be true to true to the pantomime spirit, you have to consider audience involvement. Encouraging booing of villains plays a part, as does allocating sound effects to sections of the audience and, most importantly, including them in the songs (the excellent Simon Slater and thanks to S Club 7).

Generating the enthusiasm for this must be more difficult for the actors when performing to a socially distanced audience. (Yes, there are still plenty of people around who prefer not to sit adjacent to someone else.). And it has to be admitted that it took slightly longer than usual to extract the desired responses. However, I knew that the goal had been achieved when the Ugly Sister’s mother (and other roles - Sarah Pearman) paused from insulting the audience and a child’s voice shouted, “You’re ugly".

Another technique for engaging an audience is to sprinkle the dialogue with local references. When Cinderella’s father (and other roles – Roger Parkins) is to be incarcerated ‘behind bars’ he throws away the line, ‘I’ve always enjoyed it in Wetherspoons’. Sponsors Boyes’ stores figure prominently in a scene involving Cinderella’s adventurer/explorer Mum and, of course, Scarborough audiences love disparaging references to Bridlington.

All of this may seem like a very full agenda of fun, but concealed beneath the veneer is a serious message: if I point to a Cinderella who does not want a Prince Charming, a Prince Charming who prefers his horse (wasn’t that Caligula?) and a mother who is an adventurer and explorer you might begin to get the picture. However, the plea for acceptance of people who do not conform to expected norms is never aggressively manifested. As in all the best pantomimes, the children are blithely unaware of any serious intent. And that is what makes The Stephen Joseph Cinderella such good value for money.