Jack and the Beanstalk

Published Monday 8 December 2008 at 10:25 by Neil Bonner

This may be a traditional telling of the age-old fairytale, but it is lifted head and shoulders above other productions by being slightly daring.

For instance, while so many pantos play safe with tired and unimaginative comedy routines, director Robert Marsden hasn’t been afraid to bring back good old, messy, slapstick.

So we have Kevin McGreevy’s Simple Simon sloshing and sliding around with Chris Casserly, whose understated Dame Trott is a sheer joy. Meanwhile, panto regular Frazer Hines opts for comedy over villainy for his Fleshcreep and it works.

There’s an excellent video insert featuring the dame in a nearby shopping centre and, refreshingly, the young local dancers aren’t confined to playing sweet village children. At one point they are the driving force behind flying fluorescent vegetables and watering cans and in another particularly effective scene, in the giant’s castle, they play evil cockroaches.

Carolynne Good and Kerry Newell make a handsome pair as Princess Tamara and Jack Trott, while Lynne McGranger has fun as a decidedly Aussie fairy.

With hardworking McGreevy and Casserly as the driving force, this show feels fresh and energised yet still provides all the elements of a good, old-fashioned panto.