"Sleeping Beauty"

Nottingham Playhouse.

Ey up me duck, the 2025/2026 panto season continues with yet another brilliant family orientated piece of Christmas fare.

Outraged at not being invited to the Princess’s party, the evil Maleficent casts a spell that sends the Princess and her whole kingdom into a deep sleep, when she pricks her finger on an enchanted spinning wheel. As they snooze, a tangled forest springs up around them. Only one thing can break the curse – the magic of true love! Enter our Prince, who must battle through the thorns, and work with the Princess to defeat the wicked fairy, malevolent Maleficent.  

The legend that is John Elkington is Nelly The Nanny. Nelly gets the party started even before the first curtain is raised with her pre show rules and regulations, and by the sound of Monday's audience, they were ready to party! What I love about John is that whoever and whatever character John plays every year, he is just John in a frock, albeit extremely glamorous and over the top frocks. He is instantly Mr Entertainment, puts on n o airs and graces, and is one of the best Dames in Nottingham you'll ever see. His audience participation is natural and works the ad-libs in as fluently as if they were in the script.

I mentioned the frocks and every year, and I've been coming to see the pantos for quite a few years now, those frocks get more over the top than last year; it makes you wonder how far the designers can go for "Aladdin", next year's pantomime. From filled aquariums to Roses chocolates and a full English breakfast inspired frock, plus more, these costumes have to be the most ingenious and brilliantly designed costume for any panto Dame to adorn themselves with.

Charis Alexandra is this year's good fairy, and quite aptly named Fairy Lights, because she shines and twinkles every time she is on stage. A voice that could cut glass and is powerful as well. I would have described it as "belting" but I was advised a few years ago by a gorgeous actress that "belting" could be misconstrued as meaning "shouty" in the theatrical world, so I'll say that Charis is a powerful vocalist.

Seb Harwood is the dashing Prince Albert. If you cross Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast" with Tim "Nice But Dim" from Harry Enfield's show, you'll get the vibe of the Prince. Wonderfully arrogant to start with and has one of the best lines in the script for me. When Fairy Lights asks why he doesn't call himself just Albert, and drop the Prince title, Albert explains that titles are never taken away from members of the Royal Family... oooh, cutting, and a nice slice of topicality, which I think some pantos shy away from nowadays.

Danny Hendrix returns as Teddy The Bear, who appears on stage with just a little bit of Fairy Lights magic. One of those lovable characters who isn't afraid to "crack" the kind of jokes that kids love to hear, filling in the level below the saucy adult type jokes, you know the sort, the ones that go over the kids' heads but the adults get straight away! Danny is no stranger to the Nottingham Playhouse panto stage and is as comfortable as your favourite pair of slippers to watch. 

I thought the catchphrase for Teddy was just a bit weak, but I can remember the origin of it. Teddy shouted "Nice To See You" and the audience shouted back "To See You Nice". I wonder if that could be a bit of a link to the Theatre Royal panto with Craig Revel-Horwood and "Strictly" as Sir Bruce Forsyth was famous for that catchphrase, and of course Brucie presented "Strictly". This might just be an age thing though as the younger audience members couldn't wait to take part in the call and response.

Princess Rose is played by Yazmin King, who makes her Nottingham Playhouse pantomime debut, but fits in as if she has been in the family for years. A lovely voice and looks very comfortable on stage and in panto. Welcome to the Playhouse panto family.

TJ Lloyd is The King and what a wonderful character this is. I can't remember if I have seen TJ before or if this is his first Playhouse panto, what I could recognise though is that TJ has done a lot of musicals in the past because of his voice has great clarity and power, even singing with the rest of the cast, you could pick his vocals out. A real fun character, who also provides the twist in this version of "Sleeping Beauty".

Taking on the role of the magnificent Maleficent is Nottingham born actor Lara Sas, who by the way has plenty of sass. There is just something, and I can only speak for myself here, just a little bit sexy about an evil woman, especially when Maleficent has such an original seduction technique which involves Marvin Gaye and Boys To Men! The costume is marvellous in black and green, providing that dark image even before she utters a word. Another great singer who has so much stage presence that you cannot take your eyes off of her when on stage... or is that just me falling under Maleficent's magic?

There are two teams of young dancers and singers, Team Torvill and Team Dean. On Monday night I saw Team Dean (I think),and there's always one performer in these teams who really catches your eye. This was the same here. Let me say that this group of seven were so energetic and I love the energy that they put into their dancing, but the youngest and smallest young man, who was at times at the back of the group looked as if he had heard that phrase "dance like there's nobody watching". He was so in the zone while being part of a group and you were just drawn to him because of that supreme confidence.

I'm not sure who has written this year's panto but the writing is so much sharper than before and includes much more in the way of topical jokes as well as some cringy jokes - which we all love anyway, plus some of the jokes that have been used in Nottingham Playhouse pantos for many years, and would not seem right if they were not included i.e. "Butterface". Plus there's a twist to watch out for that I have alluded to, regarding the awakening of the Princess.

There's a nice new twist on the kitchen baking scene which was tight and gave rise to some nice but slightly naughty jokes, which I noticed there were much more throughout the panto, again satisfying the risky humour for the mums and dads.

Directed by Adam Penford, this is a very tight production and there are a lot more jokes and one liners in there that the cast deliver at times like a pump action gun. The music choices span quite a variety of music styles and I was quite pleased that there were a couple of more modern songs, Lady Gaga's "Abracadabra" and Huntr X's "Golden" as well some absolute stompers and a couple of musical theatre favourites, including a brilliant West End style version of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidoshus", which also put Team Dean through their paces.

The Set Designer is Cleo Pettitt. Anyone who has been to a Playhouse pantomime previously will know that their sets are some of the best pantomime sets around and this is yet another glitter filled set. Ranging from a desert scene, a woodland scene all the way through to Maleficent's hell-hole and the glamour of the palace. 

Uncle Johnny Morton is the Musical Director; where would the Nottingham Playhouse pantomime be without Uncle Johnny? The sound that comes from that orchestra pit belies the small quartet with the big sound.

Choreographed by Rosanna Bates I absolutely loved the energy in these routines. The opening dance sections that used to open the two acts have gone and instead the routines are ensconced in the story and opening action sections. I used to find the dance only intros into the two acts just a little bit boring, but times have moved on and this is a perfect example of using entertaining choreography to draw the audience into the action as opposed to giving them another few minutes to chat away.

Lighting Design is by Tim Mitchell, with Sarah Brown as the Lighting Programmer. Combined with the Sound Designer, Paul Groothuis, they created a gorgeous and fun atmosphere, with both lighting and sound being completely on top of their game. I could hear every word of the narration and vocalisation and the lighting created excitement.

I mentioned John's costumes but every costume you see is a work of art, created by Freelance Costume Makers Jo Birkett, James Goss, Annalise Walker, Jude Ward and Kit Winter.

Some people ask me which is the best pantomimes I have seen but both pantos that I have seen this year already are so different that I would not be able to make any comparison, which is really good for theatre goers when you don't have to rate one against the other.

The bar has been set in Nottingham, so let's see if the others can match this very high and enjoyable standard.

"Sleeping Beauty" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 17 January 2026.