Aladdin

Pantos and Christmas go together like Feng and Shui – especially in this show set in Peking. In this version of Aladdin we have the usual set pieces which people know and love, plenty of “oh yes he should” or “it’s behind you” as you might expect, which raises a smile in the audience members. In this version we have the added Con-Yu and Flee-Siu trying to dupe the Emperor with a bizarre version of Feng Shui where the belongings and cash of the Emperor need to be liberated as a key to everyone’s happiness. It’s a welcome addition to the story and gives rise to a lot of farcical mistaken identity situations which are good fun. “How Feng is your Shui...” as one of them ponders philosophically. 

The costumes stand out in this show, along with makeup and wigs. The red eye makeup on Abanazer the baddie was particularly effective at denoting him as evil. All the costumes were different: stunning Chinese style dress for the Princess, Abanazer’s magician robes, the Genie with the added beard and all important golden cuffs signalling his bondage to the lamp, the plates stuck onto the bottom of the Dame’s dress when she was rich – just some examples of them all being so different and all showing such care and attention in the details. Huge well done to Wendy Clare for all of these, especially as there were an incredible amount of people in costume. The Con-Yu and Flee-Siu costumes being the opposite of each other: the fabric in the trousers on one was the same as the fabric in the top for the other one, was a lovely touch. 

The use of projections was a great way to show the set, with some pieces brought on to show different scenes, especially in the cave, which worked really well. There were a few technical hitches on this particular evening with songs and some projections, and a split second of a Sultan and Sheherazade little film which didn’t reappear: it would have been nice to know what that was about as they are listed in the programme. Georgie Bancroft as the Dragon Foo was particularly good at covering any hitches with little entertaining dances which made the audience laugh, others were less confident. In panto the little hitches are fun for the audience. 

The three dance sections, from Bond School of Dance, were really lovely. A mixed piece including contemporary and even tutting was super, the tap dance routine was full of sparkle: the younger members also worked extremely hard here, they looked very young indeed but looked like they were loving being there. The standout was the ballet sequence, fully en pointe, which was stunning. The skill on show was extraordinary and the choreography was gorgeous, especially the six armed goddess which nods to Sinbad, another tale from Sheherazade of course. It was totally unexpected little gem in the middle of a heartfelt panto. 

It’s clear that this is a group who enjoy putting on a panto and are invested in it, working very hard indeed. All the performers did very well. There were some lovely voices in the singing too, Judith Foot stood out with her lovely voice. Lois Lanyon and Nasim Chillcott were a great con artist double act and seemed at ease on the stage, and Georgie Bancroft was a hit across all ages as Foo the Dragon showing lovely stage presence. It was a very long Panto however, there could have been ways to shorten it, such as: pace, or not playing the backing tracks of the songs right to the end before the action started again, plus more; as there were some very small children in the audience who had to leave at the interval, plus small children in the cast: almost three hours is a long time to ask such small people to focus. Despite that it was a fun evening which the audience, from the whoops and cheers, enjoyed enormously. Congratulations to everyone involved. 

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