This fun, feelgood production began in unconventional fashion when director Kate Saxon announced that Josh Capper - the actor playing young Jack Trott - had sustained a knee injury and would be performing the whole show on crutches. Not surprisingly, dance routines and climbing of beanstalks proved tricky.
Early in Act I this change of events appeared to make Capper and his cohorts nervous, with a few lines fluffed, but thankfully it wasn’t long before the evening’s pace picked up. Soon many of the cast even felt relaxed enough to realise the comedy potential in Jack’s predicament.
Chief among those was Terence Frisch’s Dame Dotty Trott, consistently creating a great chemistry with his fellow performers (particularly Martin Callaghan as Frank Furter) as well as the audience. Strutting their stuff and singing up a storm are Ben Watson’s quirky villain Nightshade, Nadine Higgin as the girl who wins Jack’s heart and Laura Doddington who plays identical twin sisters Fortuna and Spatula. Capper also deserves a lot of credit for his old-fashioned showbiz spirit.
Andrew Pollard’s script bases the action in a fairground (complemented by Cleo Pettitt’s colourful set) and nicely throws a good helping of dodgy gags, local references and hilarious song parodies into the panto mix. It’s almost worth going along just for the Bohemian Rhapsody scene alone.
Watford Palace prides itself on showcasing an ensemble in family entertainment without all the distractions of soap stars and D-list celebrities, and the venue achieves just that.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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