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Sleeping Beauty

Published Monday 30 November 2009 at 12:30 by Richard Edmonds

How very pleasant it is to find warmth and effortless courtesy at this magical theatre, with its dainty Victorian auditorium, tucked away in the Cotswolds.

We are at the court of King Arthur for this Sleeping Beauty, with Excalibur stage right, still stuck firmly in the magic stone. No matter, this is panto-land, so anything goes.

It is not without its longueurs, but the Everyman is staging a family panto and, whatever its shortcomings - a good script is one of them and an absence of laughs is another - the show reaches out to both children and adults, who on this showing found amusement for much of the evening.

The sets, by Mike Bearwish, have loads of glitzy sparkle and are superb, reviving memories for this reviewer of work by that other panto designer of genius, Terry Parsons.

Most people on stage - an assortment of wizards, dames and their dotty offspring, princesses and all-singing, all-dancing medieval villagers straight out of Timewatch - pursue their various roles with enthusiasm and an admirable sense of purpose.

Two performances are outstanding. Firstly Zara Ramm, as the intelligently wicked Morgan Le Fay, flies in wearing purple then hangs motionless high above the stage like a venomous amethyst pendant, telling us just what to do with ourselves. Ramm worked with the marvellous Oddsocks company, which explains everything. Elsewhere, Kelli Maybank’s Prince Percival Lostalot, slaps her thigh with alacrity and reaches out effortlessly to a packed house, mirroring many a fine principal boy before her.

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