"Jack & The Beanstalk"

Nottingham Playhouse.

Ey up me duck, it's panto number two for this year!

When Jack exchanges the family cow for mysterious beans, he begins an epic adventure when they grow into an enormous beanstalk, with a little help from his Fairy Godmother. Jack climbs the beanstalk to come face to face with the Giant Blunderbore. Can Jack make off with the magic harp and the goose that lays the golden eggs? I couldn't possibly give the ending away, for several reasons!

Nottingham Playhouse are renowned for their quality pantomimes, and that is because of the sharp witted and topical scripts, as well as the fact that there's the constants in the cast; it's like that family that you only visit at Christmas, isn't it?

John Elkington is that constant in the equation as this year he plays Dame Daisy Trott. John is the master of the ad-lib, as well as being like that naughty little kid who gets everyone else into trouble. There are several things that "go wrong" in the panto that John manages to put the blame onto other people; who knows if these "mishaps" are part of the script or what, it doesn't matter because they are funny.

The costume changes are many and get all the more outrageous, including one that looks like a pea pod with a couple of peas popping out - I'll leave that to your imagination, as well as a wonderful one that includes a balloon and basket, an ice cream cone, and a countryside view complete with grass, farm animals and fences.

What sets John apart from other Dames in the panto business is that he, in character, is down to earth; it's almost as if he has just popped out (in full panto garb) to go to the shops and has run into a group of best friends that he has not seen in ages. Just as if you've popped into your local Heron (other convenient stores are available) and bumped into a mate from school. There's still that cheeky look in his eye, especially just before he goes off script, which you can see from the audience, so his fellow cast members would obviously see something coming. You can't rehearse natural comedy instincts like John has, and that is what makes him the best in his trade.

Finton Flynn - what a great name for an actor - plays Jack. Finton is new to the Playhouse panto family, but fits in so well. That is something that the Playhouse panto family do so well though, they welcome new people to their fold and make them feel like family, and that chemistry shows on stage. Jack is, of course, the hero of the piece and gets the girl at the end. He has boundless energy, a great voice and a personality to match.

Tom Hopcroft is back this year, and playing a less than wholesome character, Fleshcreep. I have had the pleasure of watching Tom perform many times over the years that I've known him, but I think, with this change of role, he has shown another side of his acting ability. He can play a panto villain just as good as playing any other character. Panto villains are always a joy to play because they are meatier and you get the chance to make little children cry, not that there were any tears from the audience tonight, apart from tears of laughter. I saw unhinged echoes of Reece Shearsmith in Tom's expressions and panto evilness, and that evilness made sure that as soon as his boots appeared on stage, the whole auditorium erupted like an active volcano with a chorus of booing. I almost expected an excerpt from Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" from "Carmina Burana" to burst forth! (See, reviewers are cultured when they want to be!). Tom's star quality continues to ascend.

Jewelle Hutchinson is also back again, this year playing Jill. Last year she made her professional debut on the Nottingham playhouse stage, winning her The Best Newcomer at the 2024 Panto Awards, and this year she is back. Jewelle is another young actor who can't resist the giggles on stage, especially when she is sharing it with Mr Elkington. She is like a can of Cola; she is full of fizz and ready to explode into action. Her duet with Finton on Jess Glynne's "Hold My Hand" sounded superb, which came as no surprise because last year I raved about her version of "Over The Rainbow".

Silly Billy is played by Bradley Judge, who I last saw on stage last year, along with Tom, in "Sister Act". Sometimes it's hard to tell if an audience are so ready for it that as soon as requested, they burst into life, or whether the actor is just so good that they create that wanting to be a part of a show, especially panto. I'd like to think that Bradley tonight just lit the audience's touchpaper and they just wanted to explode with him whenever he appeared. Either way, Bradley and his big smile just brought the best and loudest reactions from this audience on Monday night. You could see that his animated actions were loved by the kids, and that he was most certainly down with them!

Caroline Parker MBE plays the Fairy Godmother. I adore Caroline; I saw her last year at Derby Theatre in the children's Christmas production of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff", and in that intimate studio space she captured the kids' attention from the off. Tonight, she did the same with not just the kids, but with the adults, well I know that I fell under her spell. Caroline is deaf and a British Sign Language User, which she incorporates on stage.

Alice Redmond, who last year played the role of the Fairy Godmother, this year plays Pat the Cow. This panto is packed with fun characters that have been really well written, and the script has been shared out so much more so that everyone on stage gets a nice chunky piece of the script. there were some nice cheesy jokes regarding Pat - the name itself gave way to a segment itself at the start and jokes about milking the performance and using the word "udder" for comic effect allowed for some groaning from the audience. It was really nice to see a panto animal given a personality, and Alice brought out that personality beautifully.

There's also a couple of big name additions to this year's cast, but you won't see them on stage. Julie Hesmondhalgh voices the role of the Magic Harp and Sir Ian McKellen voices the role of Giant Blunderbore. (It's always nice to see legends lending their voices to panto roles - I've heard there's also a rather good one in Bingham this year!!)

Written by Adam Penford. This year has moved up a couple of notches because last year, good as it was, I thought had reached a plateau. This year is so much tighter and sharper script wise, with  more political jokes and also well aimed swipes at the Nottingham Council, and their bank balance - or lack of it, as well as an expected mention about the Maid Marion Way debacle. This immediately drew in the older section of the audience. The jokes were topical and fresh, as well as including the "butterface" standard. My favourite joke of the panto though had to be the one delivered by Tom when talking about getting Giant Blunderbore's dinner ready. he said that the Giant liked eating things on sticks, to which Pat The Cow replied "kebabs?", and then the punch line "No, senior citizens". Cruel but deliciously funny. 

There were some wonderful upbeat modern music choices, especially the megamix which started off with Chappell Roan's "Hot To Go" and ending with the rousing "We Will Rock You". This section normally gets two or three reprisals but this didn't happen, and I was quite pleased that it didn't because it kept everything pacy and sharp. A nice mix of older songs and musical theatre favourites complimented the modern stuff.

There was the usual section where all of the cast are on stage to perform a comedy, as well as well choreographed song that, as usual, unravelled to great comic effect, in the section where the characters sung what they would be if they were not who they were. This gradually got more naughty as the line grew longer, both choreographically as well as lyrically, especially Caroline's lyrics and Tom's choreographed bit! All great fun and gained a massive reaction from the audience who were by now eating out of everyone on stage's hands.

The set design is by Cleo Pettit, and while it seemed to have been scaled down from last year, it was still an excellent set, especially the Giant's kitchen and a brilliant dairy machine that delivered anything to do with dairy products, called "How Dairy", another corny but well used joke.

Lighting Designer is Tim Mitchell and Sound Designer is Paul Groothuis.

Choreographed by Rosanna Bates, there were some lit dance moves there, especially to the choices from musicals as well as the modern choices. The young ensemble, on Monday night were Team Biggins, and I am sure that on the closing number they were joined by Team Inman, but not in costume. The choreography for the teams looked great performed by the seven team members.

No dancing rabbits, but there were dancing alternative creatures, (no spoilers me duck), which I thought refreshed this section, I'm sorry but the rabbits had had their day in my opinion.

Musical Director is another legend, Uncle Johnny Morton and his trio of band members. Can you believe that only four musicians make all of that music? Can you also believe that John Morton never ages?

As is only to be expected, the costumes are FAB-U-LOUS and outrageous at times, thanks to Costume Supervisor Emilie Carter.

Nottingham Playhouse also provide British Sign Language Interpretation, Captioning, and Audio Description for this production, as well as Dementia Friendly, Reduced Capacity, and Relaxed performances, making this production completely inclusive.

I will gladly admit that when I walked in to the Playhouse this year, I had expected a "more of the same" style panto as last year, but I can pleasantly say that Adam Penford has proven me to be wrong, because everything about this production has been ramped up by at least two notches. If this doesn't get you in the mood for Christmas, nothing will.

"Jack & The Beanstalk" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 18 January 2025.