Pantomime
Sleeping Beauty
Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock
Mary Brennan
four stars
Long before the end, you’re thinking: ‘how can Beauty snooze through all this daft hilarity?’ We’re certainly not nodding off, thanks to yet another beezer showing from the panto-pranksters at the Beacon. Jimmy Chisholm (Nurse Moira McClunkey), Lee Samuel (Hilarious Hector), Jane McCarry (Carabosse) and Mark Cox (her put-upon henchman, Cludgie) have all been here before, increasingly coming together in a joshing bond of familiarity that breeds content in a local audience. And even though all four are slipping into their customary archetypes, there’s nothing same-old, same-old about what they do with the scripted material,written by George Douglas and Chris Jarvis for Imagine Theatre.
Chisholm’s archly knowing Dame is, as ever, on the look-out for a man whose particulars she can swipe. As the pawky, saucy patter comes slick and fast, she’s scanning the front rows for a likely fella when – you can breath again, lads - she encounters the gnarly, freak-haired Cludgie... more lumbering than prime lumber, maybe, but l-u-u-u-rve is strange.
The moment they click is actually rather sweet leading Cox to delight us with a rendering of ‘Moira, I’ve just met a woman named Moira...’ Aaaaw, nice – and just the right side of ridiculous.
Meanwhile Samuel’s Hector the Jester has everyone – and not just the kids – on-side as pals with his goofy eejit charm. Yes, in true numpty style he cops the gungy slapstick pies, but he also helps rescue Beauty’s Prince.
Given Jane McCarry’s flamboyantly demonic Carabosse, that’s quite an ask of a big-hearted wee guy – Samuel makes you care as well as laugh. Beauty (Nikki Horsburgh) and Prince Lorenzo (Peter Willoughby) bring real freshness to their endangered romance, abetted by the handy magic skills of Queen Matilda (Martine McMenemy). Add in the energies of the Junior Chorus – I saw the Briars - and you have a panto that, like a beacon, shines bright across the Pantosphere.
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