Skip to main content

Day: 15 December 2014

Review: Robin Hood

Written by Hannah Toeman on . Posted in Theatre.

As the programme stated, the Panto Society’s Robin Hood has abandoned much of its traditional telling. This diversion created a unique forum of creative freedom with crossdressing, ABBA, and a “Frozen” tribute. Set against a simple backdrop of a panoramic forest photo and a cardboard castle, the plot did not retell Robin’s stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Rather it was a story of the blossoming romances of our two central couples: Robin and the feisty Maid Marion, and Prince John and Robin’s mother Dame Felicity Fellatio.

The strong writing left no room for weak peripheral characters and the updated telling enabled new characters to come to the fore. There must be commendations to the scene-stealing Ryan Jones and his exuberant and charismatic portrayal of Dame Felicity Fellatio: a woman seeking the perfect man—panto style, of course. Jones, just like the rest of the cast dealt with the inevitable hecklers professionally, without hesitation. Beth Farrell’s sharp ad-libbing and her comic delivery transformed a potentially dry character into a charming and witty narrator.

As expected with student panto, this production was raunchy and bold. Boundaries were pushed, but all was delivered in good jest. Lines were not frittered away by the cast and they enjoyed great interaction with the audience. This made for engaging and fast-paced comedy. It felt like comic relief from start to finish. More light-hearted moments were faultlessly delivered by the chorus: the totally kitsch Village People, choreographed by Zara Bryan and Fern Wigfield, enjoyed no fewer than four encores.

But the musical was not just slapstick and sparkle. Beneath the fake boobs, the foliage and mandatory panto donkey was a story about love, friendship and… alien planets. So perhaps it was not the most thought-provoking or intellectual piece of theatre. But the achievement of this society cannot be underestimated. Cast and creatives together produced a hilarious and engaging performance which was executed skilfully. Now how do I sign up for next year?

Review: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Written by Matthew Gormley on . Posted in Theatre.

Following my preview of this year’s festive extravaganza being staged at the Manchester Opera House, I felt transported back to my childhood at Christmas time when I went along to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on Wednesday evening, and although I wasn’t disappointed, it didn’t quite match the efforts of previous years gone by.

From the moment when the audience entered the auditorium, timeless Christmas tunes were blasting out of the speakers as the audience took to their seats, before cameras made their way around the audience and unsuspecting members of the public appeared on a screen in the middle of the excessively glittered curtain cloth, complete with amusing captions around their heads. Yes, the fun began before the curtain was even raised, and the youngsters were already loving every single second of it.

Despite a technical hitch which meant that the spectators could not hear the opening monologue from the Magic Mirror, once the show was in full swing, it had all the ingredients of a good old-fashioned panto: corny gags, booing, hissing, singing and dancing, although not as much of the latter two as I would have liked.

Priscilla Presley was, without a doubt, the name selling the tickets this year, but her performance as the Wicked Queen was a little flat; she failed to understand some of the humour, and sometimes gave the impression that she just did not get this glorious British tradition. Of course, she could not have gone through the whole show without throwing in a number from late husband Elvis, and although his 1958 hit Trouble is perfect for her character, her performance lacked both passion and enthusiasm, and it was far too obvious that she was miming, which for live entertainment of this kind is very poor.

Natalie Andreou makes a stunning Snow White, and her vast West End experience shines through. Her handsome prince comes in the form of former Brookside star Phillip Oliver, who, when he first arrived on stage, joked that it was “a bit of a gamble” having a Scouser on stage in Manchester, but effortlessly masks his Liverpudlian twang in favour of talking posh. As her one true love, he charms not only Snow White, but all of the mums in the audience, resulting in a hilarious heckle from a lady in the stalls when he gives Snow White the kiss of life. You could not script it.

Legendary screen actor Warwick Davis heads up the seven dwarves as Prof, leading them through the crowd in a triumphant sing-a-long of ‘Hi Ho, Hi Ho’, much to the delight of the children. The dwarves may have slightly different names to the traditional ones, but they all have their own little gimmicks and command the stage from their moment they appear. A talent show performance from one of them in particular is not to be missed.

As predicted, Tam Ryan is once again the real star of the show, despite having to play second fiddle to the major stars in the cast. This is Tam’s fifth consecutive festive season on the Opera House stage, and when you watch him it’s clear to see why he is invited back year after year. He, once again, has the audience eating out of the palm of his hand, with fast-packed gags and relevant one-liners that mock events of the year gone by. Tam is drastically underused in this year’s production, with his character of Muddles having very little part to play in the plot. He’s a true master of his game, without whom the show would be much less enjoyable.

Completing the cast are Daniel Stockton, who also provides many tongue-in-cheek comical moments as the Henchman, and an extremely talented ensemble who bring the musical numbers to life. Sadly, the songs in this show are few and far between, which makes for a slow pace at times.

All in all, this is a festive treat that all the family can enjoy. Get yourself down to the Manchester Opera House this Christmas and support traditional British theatre.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves runs until Sunday 4 January. Performance times vary.

Review: Little Shop of Horrors

Written by Luke Sharma on . Posted in Theatre.

The production, based on the 1960 comedy horror film of the same name, follows the story of a down on his luck, dweeby botanist called Seymour Krelborn who discovers an alien plant called Audrey II with an appetite for blood. The plant carves Seymour’s path to glory (or so it seems), but as it grows, so does its appetite for human flesh! With plenty of zany characters and an even more insane storyline, Little Shop of Horrors shouldn’t be missed.

The Exchange’s production was nothing less than incredible. It stayed true to the spirit, fun and humour of the original musicals and movies. With The Exchange being a theatre-in-the-round, the staging stayed simple, with location changes being represented by props. They were extremely well built and were all very similar to the 1986 film adaptation.

There are some surprises in there, which I don’t want to spoil, but the director Derek Bond did a brilliant job in exploiting every dimension of the theatre from the ceiling down, to capture his vision. The flooring of the stage was lit quite brilliantly with underfloor lighting to represent the mood and paid tribute to the sci-fi nature of the production.

Musical direction by Tim Jackson can’t go unnoticed. The five-piece band he led never missed a beat and provided a brilliant accompaniment to a bunch of extremely talented singers. Furthermore, the ‘puppeteering’ of Audrey II was done in the most suitable way for a theatre-in-the-round, and although the puppeteers were extremely noticeable initially, after 5 or 10 minutes you’re too engrossed in the fantastic job they’re doing to even notice them.

As far as the performance of the cast is concerned, even though there was a limited cast, each cast member performed their part(s) by the book (perhaps with the exception of Ako Mitchell but we’ll get to him later) and each member played them extremely well and as a result of such a fantastic team effort I do not have a single criticism to make.

Gunnar Cauthery was absolutely perfect; whomever casted him as Seymour deserves a pat on the back. As I was watching him perform, I almost too often had flashbacks to Rick Moranis (from the 1986 film version). I would even go as far to say that Mr. Cauthery captured the dweeby essence of Seymour as well as and probably even better than Moranis himself!

Kelly Price was also excellent as Audrey, being Seymour’s love interest. From her first appearance, you can feel the talent that Ms. Price has to offer. By the time Act 2 comes around, it becomes obvious that you are in the presence of an extremely gifted actress.

Now it must be said, the two members of the cast who really stole the show for me were Ako Mitchell, playing Orin Scrivello and various other characters and Nuno Silva as Audrey second voice and puppeteer. The earlier mentioned Mr. Mitchell can be described as “not playing his parts by the book”; he somehow managed to make the character of Orin so much more sinister and far more hilarious than any other portrayal that I have ever seen, and the various other characters he played just showed the audience the variety and diversity of this actor. Nuno Silva was more surprising than anything, a silent puppeteer throughout, but when he opens his mouth, the deepest, smoothest and jazziest voice pours out which was completely unexpected and absolutely magnificent.

Although I don’t have the word count to expand on the rest of the cast, I feel that it needs to be noted that every single cast member was amazing in the roles they played and should be extremely proud of this production. I implore you to go and watch this production, because I can guarantee that you won’t see such a brilliant performance of Little Shop of Horrors outside the West End. Derek Bond has assembled a brilliantly talented cast, who have absolutely knocked it out of the park.

Little Shop Of Horrors is running from 5th December 2014 until 31st January 2015.