MOTHER GOOSE
It’s back! Yes, pantomime is back at Theatre Royal Brighton and it could not have been more welcome. Of course it had to be with what was from the outset a stellar cast headed up by perhaps the most famous and accomplished actor in the word, Sir Ian McKellen, who at one point is joined on stage by Dame Judy Bench (no that is not a typing error). And pairing him with Liverpool comic John Bishop was a stroke of genius. Bishop’s gentle charm was a perfect foil for McKellen’s sturdy Lancashire dame. Anna-Jane Casey plays the goose and from the get go does a few things that no doubt Mel Giedroyc would not have been able to achieve, dropping into the splits and belting out those huge numbers, she would have of course brought a different humour but this goose’s west end credentials brought class. Oscar Conlon-Morrey makes a fine Jack Goose and has a fine voice too, a blessing as McKellen and Bishop do not have a note between them! Not that it really matters.
Sharon Ballard and Karen Mavundukure make fine good and bad fairies with powerful voices and a fun twist in their tale at the end. There was in fact much to be enjoyed, for me a set that used very traditional pantomime style cloths and gauzes, costumes that were funny rather than bejewelled camp drag style nonsense, a silly and messy wet scene and an audience song, even if it was a pop classic and not very trad and one did wonder if Mother Goose was called Caroline simply to allow the number to fit in.
Jonathan Harvey’s script was fun but perhaps lacked some good new jokes and the double entendres were rather hackneyed, perhaps intentionally, I do not know but it at times it lacked bite and the political gags were there but in a world where politics is moving so so fast they were already dated.
The real joy though was the very fine ensemble who as Caroline Goose’s rescued animals held the whole thing together, fine voices and dancing from them all and some very funny characterisation indeed, what was not to love about Richard Leeming’s bat?
The audience simply loved this very traditional return to pantomime proper and for the most part so did I, I love the form and I love the tradition and I am heartened to see it return to Theatre Royal Brighton after a long absence. And clearly the presence of major stars sold the place out in their pre-west end and tour run.
I left with a huge smile on my face, it was so much fun and packed with so much promise, but let’s hope that part of that promise is a proper pantomime at Theatre Royal Brighton every Christmas from now on.
Andrew Kay
10 December
Theatre Royal Brighton
Rating: 
