Jack & The Beanstalk
Bolton Albert Halls Theatre
Until Saturday 12th August 2018
Writer: Liam Mellor
Director: Andrew Curphey
Producer: Joseph Purdy Productions
Choreographer: Jo Swaby
Sound & Lighting Design: Adam Cookson
Fee fie foe fum… A giant is causing havoc in
Bolton’s historic Albert Halls. The North East Theatre Guide was on its summer
travels and we decided to pop in to see some North West panto action and the
good news is that we had a fun time.
It is a really imposing building, a short
walk from the NCP Octagon Car Park which offers free parking on Saturdays and
Sundays. Once inside it is a bit of a maze to find the way to the theatre
itself. We were wandering around the floor above the one in which we picked up
our tickets, before trying the floor above and finding the correct part of the
venue. Perhaps this Spinal Tap moment could be avoided with some clear signage.
Once inside we found the seats comfy enough and plenty of leg room. The website
suggests it is 670 capacity and it has some tiering to the seating so we had a
clear view midway back in the theatre which was good. Room wise, it reminded us
in its impressive style to Hull City Hall (without that venues balcony) and
shares its acoustic quality.
Enough of the venue…what about the show?
First on stage is South Shield’s very own panto
regular Stephen Sullivan reprising his role as Fleshcreep.
Stephen seems to revel in the role of the panto baddie. Indeed, at the interval
it was clear that he had got to the children around us. The Ying to his Yang is
Anne Nolan as the Fairy Queen. Between them they set up the story, using clever
rhyme, for those unfamiliar with the tale, which given that most of the
audience are under 8 is probably a good idea.
A giant has built his castle high above Boltonia
and his henchman Fleshcreep pops down to pick up his next tasty meal. Fleshcreep
cons the beautiful Princess Jill (Rebecca Lake) and kidnaps her. Her father the
King (Warren Donnelly) offers a reward for her safe return. Meanwhile poor Dame
Trott (Richard Aucott) is struggling to raise her two children, Silly Billy
(Gary Morrison) and our hero Jack (Andrew Curphey).
Gary Morrison and Richard Aucott work well together
as comic and panto dame. They get the audience on side and lead one of the
early songs In The Dairy to the tune
of In The Navy. They work a nice
comedy routine with Daisy the cow which had the little ones around us laughing.
Now we see a lot of panto over the year (Oh, yes we do!) and some shows are
aimed at older audiences, and forget the younger kids, whilst some shows
recognise that these shows are an important entry point into theatre for many
young people. One couple behind us was discussing in the interval how their
child (who must have been under 10) wants to go into drama when she is older.
This show is both very safe and entertaining for the youngest members of the
audience. The young lad in front of us, who was fidgeting in the 10 minutes
before the show, was totally captivated by the action on stage for the 2 hour
show – no mean feat with such a young audience. The young audience needs a
little training with the mechanics of a panto (“Hi, when I come on I want you
to…”) and the cast brought the audience into the action – and that doesn’t
happen at every panto either.
This panto is sparkly and glamourous too. The
sets sparkle, the Princess beautiful, and the giant suitably hideous. Which, as
the Princess sings to help the giant sleep, brings us to the music. The songs
bridged the generations. The young girls near us were singing along to Rebecca
Lake’s version of One Last Time whilst
the parents were joining in with YMCA.
Of course, you don’t invite a vocalist with the quality of Anne Nolan along
without giving her a couple of songs to show off her power and range, and I
thought Climb Ev'ry Mountain was the
pick of the bunch. The show concludes with the Nolan’s classic I’m In The Mood For Dancing and Dancing In The Streets which had a
number of parents up on their feet.
The show has two groups of dancers, some
younger dancers and some older dancers. They were well choreographed into many
of the musical routines and sketches.
Did we get to scream “Its behind you!”? Of
course we did, as Warren Donnelly, Gary Morrison and Richard Aucott did a great ‘take
off’ sketch.
The show gets the proper ending and the Beanstalk
comes down (unlike one show last Christmas which was weird). No ‘messy scene’ here
but we have community singing as Gary Morrison led 4 youngsters on stage
through Old MacDonald Had A Farm. The
cast worked hard and the young audience applauded appreciatively at the end. Jack
And The Beanstalk is a perfectly fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon in
Bolton, especially as it was lashing it down with rain outside!
Review by Stephen Oliver
Tickets:
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