Writer and director Liam Rudden keeps his script fresh - if a little far-fetched at points, even for pantomime - by transferring Sleeping Beauty to Musselburgh, while his magpie eye for old Scottish music hall routines adds sparkle.
Graham Crammond’s smooth patter as dame Nanny Nellie pokes the plot knowingly along. His naturally spontaneous interaction with Arron Usher as Nellie’s son, Daft Jamie, provides many of the show’s best moments. Jodie Campbell adds extra vitality to the routines - and a love interest for Jamie - as Ruby, keeper of the Loch Ness Monster.
Julie Heatherill makes a fantastic beauty as Nellie’s ward, Sally. She’s onside with the audience and never nauseatingly good as she falls for Gary Lamont’s equally down to earth Honest Lad, Prince Duncan.
As the Prince’s consort, Count Alucard, Edward Cory needs to be just a touch more flamboyantly vampiric. Lori McLean is excellently vicious as wicked witch Grizzlebone with Stuart Ryan creepy as her boy, Wart. However, if Ryan’s conversion to good convinces, hers is a step too far outside pantomime convention.
Robin Mitchell’s single set allows the show to flow freely. However, in a production so packed with invention that both Concorde and Nessie appear on stage, his dame costumes are disappointingly underwhelming.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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