Jack & the Beanstalk

Ever get a line from a song or a script stuck in your head for days on end? Recently the silliest of jokes from the Ellesmere Devils Pantomime Society’s newly adapted rendition of Jack and the Beanstalk has not only been stuck in this reviewer’s head but prompted bouts of sniggering every time it pops into mind. 

What is it? Ok, you may not think it’s as funny as I do, but here it is, with a little context: Anytime the cheese board of dim-witted Baby Bill is ogled by another character, the audience is supposed to yell, “It’s not your cheese!” but pronounced “It’s nacho cheese!” Oh well. It still makes me laugh. 

Actually, Jack and the Beanstalk: A Very Cheesy Pantomime was very funny in its entirety, serving up a devilishly tasty evening with lots of nudges, winks and countless cheese jokes. Scripted by the Devils’ own Matt Attwood, a second-year drama student at Anglia Ruskin University, the production was also directed by Attwood and featured Attwood himself as the villainous Stilton the Sorcerer. (It is understood that he had to take on the role because another actor had had to leave the show unexpectedly.)

This particular take on Jack and the Beanstalk sees Jack Cheese and his mates vying with Stilton for control of Cathedral City and the hand of the sweet, kind Princess Jill Ritz-Cracker. Rounding out the cast of deliciously cheesy characters are Stilton’s henchmen Wensley and Dale, the dame Carmen Bert and her son/Jack’s brother Baby Bill, Princess Jill’s lady-in-waiting Hallou-May, the Laughing Cows and Gordon Zola the Giant. You get the picture.

A bright, tuneful chorus with some especially well-sung Laughing Cows launched the action into high gear from the very beginning, setting a fast-moving pace that continued throughout the production. High marks to the chorus, which sang well, danced nicely too and delivered the devil-may-care razzle-dazzle so needed – and so rarely provided – by panto ensembles. A special individual nod to Carol Collins as a Laughing Cow whose bluesy belting sent shivers down the back, in the best possible way.

 Surprisingly for such adept musical performances, both by individuals and by the chorus, no one was credited in the programme as musical director. No fewer than six choreographers are listed, however: Matt Attwood (again!), Jess Bendon, Joanna Charlesworth – who demonstrated her own tidy dance skills as part of the ensemble – and Lauren Stevens, who also played Jack.

In the two major gender-switching roles, Stevens was a confident, well-turned out Jack who easily won over the audience early on whilst David Blair was a madly flirtatious, simpering dame who took great pleasure in embarrassing the gentlemen in the audience. As Stilton, sporting elaborate white and green make-up, Matt Attwood hissed and snarled outrageously, upping the cheese factor to great heights. His henchmen Wensley and Dale (Simon Park and Richard Fisher) were laughable foils for Stilton’s grandiose plans of domination.

The prize female role in this adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk was that of Hallou-May, the Princess’s Scouse handmaiden, delightfully played by Tess Garner, all charm and twinkly eyes as a sort of a football wife in waiting. 

The entire company deserves several big rounds of applause for a magical evening in which all facets of the production – from singing to dancing to sound and lighting, costuming and make-up, and from scriptwriting to direction – all came together in concert, wrapped in a glittery package with a bright bow. 

Thanks for a lovely evening. (I’d see this one a second time!)

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