Cinderella and the very naughty ugly sister

Before going to watch Cinderella and the very naughty stepsisters, I had one concern, I was worried that being advertised adult I was not sure if it would be adult or not, I was happy that Katherine Foxworthy and her team had made the right decision to not hold back and make an adult production.  I personally felt this show was at its funniest when it dared to make, what some may say are controversial jokes, involving Michael Barrymore and Prince Andrew, they were funny and right for the show.  Also, original adult songs by Laura Bradley were funny and definitely adult.

Cinderella played by Freya Martin played it with innocence that was needed up against her vile stepsisters Vee and Dee played by Stephanie Lawson and Lauren Easton respectively.  They were horrible, vile, and disgusting and I enjoyed their performance and well done to them for not really breaking character even when delivering some truly disgusting lines.  I did feel sorry for the audience member ‘Scott’ who was their audience victim at this performance.

Jessica Kolthammer played Buttons, and this for me was a great performance, super voice, comic timing and the ability to work an audience that had clearly forgotten the line they were supposed to repeat on her entrance.  It is a shame that the back of her plant was not masked so the audience did not see her working it but having said that the plant itself was a good addition and added to the audition participation.

Sophie Collins played Prince Stiffington, she had a lovely voice and held herself as the Prince well.  Laura Bradley as Fairy Muff and the Cryer had a superb dry sense of human and the timing of her one liners was good.  The only thing I would comment on is there was a couple of times I could not hear her, this could have been her projection or just that her back was to me at the time of delivering the line, this is potentially the one drawback of playing in the traverse.

Dan Weiss (Syphilis) and Chris Evans (Baron Hardon) complete the performances.  Both seemed nervous in Act 1, but by the second Act they had grown in confidence and the audience gave the downtrodden Baron Hardon a well-deserved cheer when he told Syphilis and the sisters to ‘fuck off’!

Playing a show in the traverse can have its draw backs but I think that with this show, the positives outweighed those, as it really gave the performers a chance to interact with the audience, and it was clear the cast and audience were enjoying this interaction.  The set that was on the stage had been made and painted to a good standard and had a good level detail, also a nice change to the Palace for the ball.

Technically well done no mistakes and a special mention for Jake McCreith who at the age of the 17 is showing that he will be a good asset going forward, it’s difficult to run a technical desk and not make any errors and Jake and his team did a good job.

Congratulations on a good and funny adult pantomime, and I look forward to coming and reviewing the youth productions later on in the year.

 

 

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