JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Produced by Martin Dodd and Peter Frosdick

The Lyceum Theatre Sheffield

It has been a good 25 years since I last saw a panto, (not through any aversion to Pantos – it’s just not that high on my to do list). Since, however, entering the twilight world of parenting, where sleep deprivation robs you of most of your senses, money and sometimes will to live, it is always good to spend some quality time with your child and introduce them to worlds and ideas that they’ve never experienced before. This then was my child’s first experience of Panto (with a capital P, you’ll notice), and I have to say she was transfixed from the moment it began to the moment it finished, well over two hours later. (And considering she isn’t even 3 years of age yet, that is some feat – for her and for this production).

I wont go through my usual review of the plot, as it’s Jack and the Beanstalk for heavens sake. The fact that we’ve also added Simple Simon, a fairy princess, a king and his daughter can only add to the flavour of the evening.

In terms of staging it has to be said that a lot of work has gone into making this a very colourful, slick and very well designed production and for that the producers can be justifiably proud. The music is very well chosen and for the most part very well sung. The costumes, especially those of the Dame, are marvellous and add a lot to the overall success of the piece and it has to be said that all the elements are there to make this a first class pantomime. The children in the audience had an absolute blast and I’m sure that will be repeated throughout its run, the question is, will we oldies like it as well?....

On the whole, probably, yes. There are possibly one or two areas in this production that you may find below par, and as a reviewer I feel duty bound to mention them – although I’ll try and keep it brief.

Malandra Burrows (from Emmerdale) plays Jack with the sort of vim and vigour you might expect to find in a silent movie (where over-acting was necessary), and whilst most people will say “it is panto love”, then I’ll make a distinction for you. There’s overacting that’s done with a nod and a wink to the audience that is quite hilarious (see the Dame later) and then there’s over-acting that is just plain annoying. It’s a shame that Malandra falls into the second category, but then fear seemed to play a large part in her first half performance. In the second half her performance, however did get noticeably better. The fear seemed to have left and this had a very positive effect on her singing voice – which in the first half had seemed very constrained with the nerves.

Thomas Craig (from Coronation St) played Fleshcreep – the baddy. Whilst nerves certainly didn’t affect his performance, neither seemingly did effort. As a villain Mr Craig had all the menace of a pantomime cow (more on that later) and half the personality. Whilst the audience added much to his performance in terms of boos and jeers, he brought very little, apart from an overwhelming lethargy, badly timed gags and obviously a desire to just pick up the cheque.

Sarah Thomas (Last of the Summer Wine) also has a strange effect on this piece, as it appears that her character hasn’t quite been worked out. Playing Jack’s fairy godmother, she seemed to totter around on stage as though half-cut, and her one joke (which recurred throughout the piece) had become tired by the second time of telling.

Luckily, these minor quibbles aside, there was much more to enjoy in this production than to dislike.

Peter Hillier (from CBBC Boogie Beebies) was a very likeable Simple Simon and had an immediate rapport with the audience. Indeed at times it seemed that he was the only one keeping the play going. Energy is so important to this sort of production and luckily he brought a bucketful.

Gemma Moss who plays the princess, in her first professional role, may undoubtedly have a great career ahead of her. Indeed her singing, stage presence and acting ability is sometimes so far ahead of the leads as to be almost embarrassing for them. She certainly had the best voice in the show, and brought a much needed poise and elegance to the play that certainly would not have been there otherwise.

Andrew Ryan, who played the Dame (as he has so many times before) came across as a sort of distant cousin of Lily Savage but does not suffer badly by comparison. The Dame is undoubtedly the star of the show, bringing much needed humour whenever this production began to flag. Indeed along with all the humour was a certain amount of believability, for  when the Dame comes to sell the cow and sings ‘Smile when your heart is breaking’, my 3 year old burst into tears, so involved was she in the production. Luckily then, if we ignore the fact that the two leads aren’t quite as good as we would have hoped, the fact is just about everyone else is fantastic and working incredibly hard to let you have a very very good time indeed. Indeed I have no doubt that next year I’ll be back in line with my daughter and my conversion to Panto will be complete. Oh no it wont – Oh yes it will!! (God help me).

Written by Paul Tyree

Jack and the Beanstalk runs until the 14th of January at Sheffield's Lyceum Theatre.