There are a whole lot of traces to be taught in Sleeping Beauty – and that’s only for the viewers! In addition to these which you must name out for the doorway of assorted characters, there’s a complete vary of bits of enterprise that are conventional to the Marlowe theatre panto season itself. As they are saying – it is the regulation. As a Marlowe novice, there have been moments the place it felt such as you’ve been invited to a good friend’s home at Christmas and are immediately anticipated to fall in with peculiar household traditions which everybody else finds utterly regular.
The different ingredient usually bypassed in trendy pantos is the plot. Here it’s each current and coherent, in addition to cracking alongside at a brisk tempo.Ore Oduba is entrance and centre on the programme cowl because the star, enjoying Prince Michael. In fact, although, the components of the prince and his magnificence, performed by Ellie Kingdon, are, as normal, a little bit nondescript. This leaves the performers to do a whole lot of the heavy lifting to convey any type of charisma to proceedings – a tricky problem within the face of the onslaught from ‘Dame’ Ben Roddy as Nurse Nellie and one that’s not absolutely met.
Jennie Dale as the nice fairy Moonbeam does, although, greater than maintain her personal in a component which is usually little quite a lot of puffs of smoke and a few plot exposition. Here we get an enticing efficiency and a powerful character who will get within the thick of it with the opposite characters.
Leading the fray is the beforehand talked about Ben Roddy as Nurse Nellie. He’s a fairly excellent dame and delivers extra power and enjoyable to proceedings than virtually another panto dame I’ve seen. Max Fulham as his sidekick Jangles is completely loveable and brilliantly humorous. The look of a puppet monkey on his arm could possibly be a crimson flag however, mercifully, he seems to be a little bit star. Fulham’s finest moments of ventriloquism are with out the puppet, although, as he calls on an apparently unsuspecting member of the viewers for his or her participation.For me, although, that is Carrie Hope Fletcher’s present. Her star energy is evidenced by the way in which she attracts every little thing to her each time she’s on stage. She one way or the other makes the depraved fairy Carrie-bosse delightfully evil and simply plain pleasant on the similar time. Her efficiency is broad and she or he appears to be having a ball in her first panto. At the identical time, it is stuffed with delicate particulars of seems to be and motion which take the character past the two-dimensional and provides us a baddie we actually need to spend extra time with.
Full marks too for the inclusion of a real slapstick scene with real mess all around the performers and the stage. I appear to recollect pantos of previous would usually have a kitchen scene the place pies could possibly be thrown. But in recent times, little doubt due to the fee and trouble of cleansing up the mess, these have been lacking. No such considerations on the Marlowe, the place the gleeful enjoyment of the chaos brings the home down.This Sleeping Beauty is unique, recent and humorous. I haven’t loved a panto as a lot in years.
Review by John Charles
Rating: ★★★★★
Seat: U1 | Price of Ticket: £49.50