Words by Melissa Blease
Theatre Royal Bath until 12 January
Having fallen in love with a stranger in the forest, an orphaned teenage princess escapes the clutches of her deranged, psychopathic stepmother to take refuge in a run-down woodland glamping pod with seven diamond miners before being rescued by a couple of men in frocks. Unlikely? Ridiculous? Just plain… silly? Yes! But at Christmas, it all makes perfect sense.
Yo-ho-ho, Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho and a barrel of very good bad jokes: panto season is upon us! And if such a notion fails to float your festive boat, I hereby wave my magic wand and out you as the Grinch that you are.
In keeping with Heritage City sensibilities, Christmas shows at TRB celebrate good old fashioned, proper pantomime tradition and offer audiences super-sparkly retellings of age-old fairy tales designed to brighten up the murky deep midwinter… and this year’s brazenly buoyant package ticks all the fabulous festive frivolity boxes.
The seasonal merriment this time around is spearheaded by a gloriously girly Snow White (Milkshake! mistress Olivia Birchenough), a pristinely pretty Prince Frederick (George Olney) and a deliciously diabolical Queen Grimelda (Emma Norman): think, The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly with a hint of Sharon Osborne thrown in for really good bad measure and a wardrobe devised by Shirley Bassey (actually Elizabeth Dennis and her team of very hardworking elves, each and every one of them clearly very keen glitter gun enthusiasts).
But they’re all in danger of being upstaged in the nicest possible way by TRB panto stalwart and writer Jon Monie as Snow White’s best mate Muddles, his super-fast, quickfire asides and instinctive comedy timing aided and abetted by his long-term Christmas season cohort Nick Wilton as Muddles’ ma Dame Dolly Donut; if you’re looking for ridiculously raucous, rollickin’ good fun, Wilton proves, time and again, that there really ain’t nothing like a dame.
Elsewhere, choreographer Harry Lydon brings a very grown up Matthew Bourne/Swan Lake-esque depth to darker scenes set in the forest, Musical Director/Arranger Joshua Newport turns a live trio hard at work in the pit into a symphonic triumph and, while it’s difficult to pick a favourite moment from a show that’s packed with hilariously witty highlights, the time spent in the company of Muddles, Dame Dolly and George Appleby’s Whiffy (one of seven dynamic dwarfs) as they present a unique interpretation of The 12 Days of Christmas has to be one of the most raucous musical comedy interludes to have graced the TRB stage… and of course, there’s a big fat fairytale wedding finale at the dazzling denouement.
If you’re looking for the fairest pantomime in the land this season, go with this one: unabashedly upbeat, consummately Chrismassy and full-on festive fabulous – oh yes it very much is.