review: mother goose 2.12.00

Mother Goose
@ the Playhouse, Nottingham 2.12.00

I haven't been to a panto since I was ten, and I hated it every year before that. But a reviewer does what a reviewer must, and so, with cynicism strapped to my back like the proverbial monkey, I dutifully took my seat.

By the first interval I'd bought a flashing wand to wave with the kids.

Kenneth Alan Taylor's Mother Goose is a delight: funny (of course), camp (of course), solidly traditional and winkingly contemporary within the space of a scene, with enough double entendres to keep the parents giggling whilst never forgetting it is a show for children. Taylor himself is a splendid, extravagant Dame, while Paul Gabriel's Wicked Witch Bane threatens to upstage him as a deliciously world-weary villainess, roaring into life with a footstomping, audience-rousing rendition of 'Land of a Thousand Dances'. It's the edgy depth of these two performances that left the other actors slightly flat as the rather more stereotypical panto characters, although John Elkington deserves special mention for his wonderfully gormless Evil Eric.

The sets and props are simply dazzling. A palace of glittering emerald and gold; Goose Fair in candystripe; a night-time sequence in a magic pool where luminous fish flit and lobster and crabs dance with octopus steals the breath. You could almost hear the little ones' hearts fluttering in their chests. I'm thirty-one - I know mine did. Songs included S-Club-7, Steps, Robbie Williams and Abba, perfect for kids, and sung with real gusto by the cast.

A little long at three hours - occasional scenes do drag, but my main gripe is the ticket prices. £12 for adults, £8 for children - fair enough if you can afford it. Concessions £9, no reduction on kids' tickets. Every child I saw leaving the show was grinning, and there should have been more of them there. Given that funding for the show comes from East Midlands Arts and the various local councils, the theatre has a responsibility to open its doors to everyone, not just the sort of people whom the management and sponsors would like to see at their own dinner parties.

That said, the money shows up on the stage, and what a beautiful sight it is to behold. Glorious. One last mention goes to the father who told his very young son during the interval that if the bad witch won, he'd give the boy a pound.

Sometimes it's hard to shake that monkey. But I you want to try, and you've got the cash, take a child who hasn't. I guarantee it's worth it.

read more rants and raves