Ben Thornton as Billy and Sam Rabone as Dame Trott with the ensemble of villagers behind. Pictures: Steve Gregson Photography

Jack and The Beanstalk

Lichfield Garrick

****

When it comes to panto the rules are simple starting with the essentials. First it needs to be daft, the sillier the better, next it has to be fun with jokes old enough for Shakespeare to have turned them down and puns rejected by any self-respecting Christmas cracker, and finally it must be family friendly, entertaining for everyone from young children to maiden aunts who think sex is what coal comes in.

And Jack and the Beanstalk manages it with plenty of cringeworthy gags to spare, keeping up a well earned tradition of family panto at the Garrick, nothing to have children asking awkward questions of parents or grannies clutching smelling salts, just daft, colourful fun with a few topical gags thrown in.

As with any panto the rest of the rules are followed with religious fervour. For a start you have to have a bloke in a frock, well lots of frocks really, the more bizarre the better, who claims, unconvincingly, he is a somewhat well-endowed middle aged, blousy woman – a sort of case of crass dressing.

 Clarice Julianda as Dave the cow and Becky Sanneh as Jack

Someone like Sutton Coldfield’s Sam Rabone, for instance, who is a master, or is it mistress, of the ‘onorable order of Damehood, back once more, this time as Dame Trott to give us a dog act that had everything, except, er, a dog, although, Cherry, the dog, a real one, the only thing that was actually real, did pop in from time to time to see how things were going without her. Still it gave us a barrowload of dog jokes, 

Oh, and his, her, whatever Dameship did demonstrate a weather machine that doubled as a waterfall – did we mention that it helps if the bloke in a frock is waterproof and ideally, able to swim. It’s a high octane, full on performance from Rabone carrying everything and everyone along.

He or she or whatever has to have a son, a cheeky chappy sort, to endear himself to the audience, have plenty of witty asides and obviously doesn’t take the story, plot, script too seriously. He’s there to have fun and make sure the audience has it with him and Ben Thornton in his fifth year here - no early release scheme at the Garrick - fits the bill perfectly as Billy with a lovely line in patter.

Joe Feeney as Lukebackinanger

Then we have to have a baddy who is villainous, evil and all that stuff and is a bit of a laugh as well, so enter (spooky, sinister music please. Maestro) the marvellous Joe Feeney as  Luke Backinanger with a dodgy East European accent of no particular nationality so as not to offend anyone who happens to be an evil East European of known origin. He has a seething anger at a rejection in his past . . . too distressing to recount here and only revealed to ticketholders . . .

Incidentally his name has its own echoes of rage, it marks a bit of a landmark in theatre as being the birthplace of the kitchen sink drama and the original angry young man . . . just saying. Carry on.

To balance the baddy we need a goody so it appears Doreen Tipton is calling herself Gill Jordan these days, and has gone straight, actually working for a living, so either her benefits have been stopped or she is avoiding DWP fraud charges . . . whatever.

With Doreen now retired Gill gives us a delightful cheery Fairy Sugarsnap with a nice line in rhyme, most of the time, which is fine . . . sorry, it’s awfully catching so you end up matching . . .  anyhow, she brings an infectious sense of fun to proceedings.

Gill Jordan casting her spell as Fairy Sugarsnap 

In true panto tradition she always appears stage right and the baddy from stage left, a tradition that goes all the way back to the religious mystery plays of the 1300s . . . see, panto even gives you a history lesson.

Finally, we need an eponymous hero who, for the sake of the title it is best to call Jack, Jack Trott. To be honest, it is Jacqueline in this case, but we’ll call Becky Sanneh Jack to avoid any confusion, or any more than panto creates without our help.  Becky also sports a fine voice although Dame Trott seemed Sorry to hear it in her Elton John dress . . . don’t ask. Dresses by Michael J Batchelor by the way.

And this particular panto, Jack and the Beanstalk, also requires a cow, in this case a talking cow, called Dave (Dave? Is that right? It is? OK), with Clarice Julianda now able to claim being front and back ends of a talking pantomime cow called Dave all in the same production at the same time.

Around them are the villagers, zombies and anyone else we can think of in the six strong ensemble who showed off some slick dance moves in Keyleigh Dettmer’s equally slick choreography.

Helga Wood and Michelle Marden have done a fine job with an interesting set which is colourful and allows seamless scene changes – it even has an interesting opening when an empty stage is magically transformed into the village of Chucklemore, which was both placename and invitation.

There is no mention of who created the giant which is a spectacular affair, well worthy of a mention and who moves around like . . . well a giant and he brings his own twist on the story, a novel variation by the writer Paul Hendy.

Barry Smith’s lighting, complete with glitter balls and searchlights sweeping the audience was always effective while Kyle Allen gave us echoes and voice changes a plenty on her sound, with musical director Tom Arnold and his excellent trio sounding much bigger that they were.

So, with nothing to frighten the horses, offend East Europeans, or maiden aunts, a hard working, lively cast and colourful, fast paced family friendly fun in a panto packed with laughs, (or groans, you take your pick) it provides a splendid opening to the festive season.

Directed by the Garrick’s artistic director, Daniel Buckroyd, Jack will be climbing the beanstalk to 12-01-25

Roger Clarke

28-11-24 

Index page Lichfield Garrick Reviews A-Z Reviews by Theatre Tweet