THE conscientious granny behind me had primed her little charges to look out for the pumpkin and assorted rodents turning into a magical coach and four.
This would whisk Cinderella off to the ball, she'd meet her Prince and – after that business with the glass slipper –they'd live happily ever after. Surprise, surprise, granny! Phil Porter's fanciful re-working of the rags-to-riches story has Cinderella all at sea, a boiler-suited skivvy on a run-down floating refuge for retired magicians. She will, however, go to the royal ball – dangling from the legs of a giant seagull, Gavin – but then she'll turn her back on romance and reject the smitten Prince because, as the only child of a feckless father, she feels it's her duty to look after the residents. Granny had some explaining to do.
If Cinders' decision horrifies us, it thrills those on-board cuckoos, the Yargs: a conniving mother and two daughters whose greed encompasses food, clothes, money and power. Is it mean to suggest that Porter's script tries to tick too many boxes of his own contrivance, or that his publicity-seeking Queen is an overly adult-orientated spoof? Luckily, as the plot loops the loop and the beguilingly quirky set revolves from split-level boat to gilded palace, the cast not only keep pace with the necessary changes of character, they serve up Porter's gallery of eccentrics and oddballs with hugely entertaining flair. Cinders (Kirsty McKay) comes to her senses just in time, saving the Prince (Kevin Lennon) from the clutches of a fake-baked Yarg. Granny's charges were cock-a-hoop. As she herded them out, they were quizzing her about giant seagulls...
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