Preview: Cinderella & The Beanstalk at Newcastle Stand Comedy Club

A Modern Family Pantomime 

Cinderella & The Beanstalk

Newcastle Stand Comedy Club

Saturday 7^th - Monday 30^th December 2019

It's a show for everyone, even people who don't like pantomime. It's a big, daft, silly mess of a show with the stuff you'd expect and loads of things you won't.  It's a classic pantomime with an alternative edge; it's like nothing you've seen before at a price that means you can afford to bring the family.

Cinderella and The Beanstalk takes the best bits of two beloved shows, putting a modern twist in the tale(s) and adding in a fair bit of utter silliness for good measure. 

Regularly hosting sell out shows of top comedy talent from across the country, this is the second year running the legendary Stand Comedy Club have put on a pantomime. Last year’s show Snow White 2 proved to be a massive hit and beat off incredibly stiff competition to be voted the region’s third best pantomime by the North East Theatre Guide ahead of some of the biggest and most well-known in the area.

Written by the cast, who are some of the top comedy writers in the North East, we see Cinderella, down on her luck but believing in the two most important things she knows; kindness and magic. However, her Evil Stepmother and ugly-hearted step-sisters are trying to thwart her plans once and for all. Jack, however, has just become the proud owner of a goose but the enemy of a (very small) giant, Andrew, who is as daft as he is not scary. Expect on-screen cameos from some incredible performers including ‘Game of Thrones’ star Ben Crompton and lots of laughs for both kids and grown-ups.

“We’re really excited about the return of the pantomime with such a strong cast of local comedians and after seeing the last panto and some of the rehearsals for this year I know this is going to be a show packed with laughs that you don’t want to miss! The Stand prides itself on championing regional talent and this cast is no exception” - Rich Turner, manager of The Stand Comedy Club, Newcastle.

“Our main goals in writing this pantomime were to make it as affordable as possible, include more up-to-date positive messages for young people and be as silly as was humanly possible and I think we’ve managed to do that. If anything, it’s even sillier!” - Sammy Dobson, ‘Salt and Pepper - The Ugly Sisters’

The Cast

Lee Kyle 

A stand up comedy favourite throughout the country, Lee is best known to the younger comedy patrons of the region as the host of our regular kids show.  He plays Andrew the Giant who means well but causes lots of trouble. Having appeared on platforms as diverse as Radio 4 and CBBC, Lee is sure to raise huge laughs among audiences of every age.

“He makes the room laugh with almost everything he says” North East Theatre Guide

Sammy Dobson 

Comedian and actor Sammy Dobson plays both the Ugly Sisters! Sammy brings a huge sense of fun to the stage as well as a surprisingly beautiful singing voice.  She has graced our screens for years, first as Sarah in Byker Grove and more recently in BBC’s Boy Meets Girl and the hit movie I, Daniel Blake.  

“Fast paced delivery … led to many laughs throughout her set” North East Theatre Guide

Hal Branson 

This year comedian Hal is cast as Jack. An easy choice given his love of beans and golden eggs.  A joyous performer, he brings his huge personality to the role and is just about handsome enough to pull it off.  A big hit as one third of the sketch group Hot Gulp, Hal is making waves as one of the fastest rising stand ups in Britain.  

“An understated comedy gem” - Huffington Post 

Hannah Walker 

Hannah is an experienced actor who is very excited to bring Cinderella to life.  As well as performing, she is also an acclaimed writer, bringing to life the successful one woman show An Evening With Savvy B. Hannah has also won fans throughout the region as being a co- host with alternative performance cabaret night PUG and The Six Twenty’s Mixtape events. Come see her be Cinderella like nobody has ever been Cinderella before...

“She wouldn’t seem out of place on Smack the Pony…” SpikeMike. 

The show also features the following performers on screen rather than live:
The King, who will be played by Game of Thrones star Ben Crompton, The Fairy Godmother played by Edinburgh Award nominee and star of Harry Hill’s Club Nite, comedian and actor Amy Gledhill, The Evil Stepmother played by local stand up circuit favourite Katherine Tanney and a very surprising guest star as ‘John Crisps’.

Photos: Dan Bolam

Tickets: Age Recommendation: 5+

Cost: £7 / £5 

Website: https://www.standpanto.com/