Eeting Beauty

Published Friday 7 December 2007 at 11:50 by Thom Dibdin

As a post-modern after-hours ironic show for panto aficionados, the Tron’s offering has no rival.

It both deconstructs and embraces the pantomime form enough to ensure all the demands of its conventions are met - everything from wish fulfilment to walkdown is present but never appears quite as expected.

Barrie Hunter’s hugely hissable Uncle Bumbleerie attempts comedy while condemning Princess Bess to death by toothbrush. Myra McFadyen’s feisty wee Fairy Fumblethistle ameliorates this to “eating for 100 years” as her rhymes go awry. Forbidden a toothbrush, Katrina Bryan’s stuck-up prig of a Princess suffers halitosis. Mark Prendergast’s operetta-singing Prince Nameless falls in love with her companion, Leah MacRae’s Porky, a pig who turns into a truly scrumptious princess for the end.

Gordon Dougall and Fletcher Mathers only miss a couple of tricks in a script that exacts much ironic humour at the expense of Glasgow’s big two pantomimes. And while Kenny Miller’s design might be cheap in comparison, it is big and kitsch enough to work splendidly.

A video tribute to Bob Carr, the Tron’s stalwart dame who died this year, provides a poignant moment. But neither MacRae nor McFadyen are skilled enough in working a less than enthusiastic audience to make this truly accessible to all.