First, a confession: being from Canada, I had never seen a pantomime before last night, when I headed to Dorchester Village Hall for a production of Tom Whalley’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This one had all the classic trimmings: Sweets thrown into the crowd! Thinly veiled innuendos! He’s behind you!
Having been in England for several years now, I’ve seen even my most cynical, allergic-to-goofiness friends harbour a grudging appreciation, if not outright love, for the pantomime. After last night’s show, I can understand why. The genre both lampoons and revels in its own silliness, and this show was no exception.
Expanding out from the classic fairy tale, the curtain rises on a circus fallen on hard times, run by Dame Gertie (Alice Hope) and her aspiring clown son, Silly Billy (Hayley Poole), who is courting uptown girl Goldilocks (Lucinda Kendrick). But when Goldilocks' father, local landlord Baron Wasteland, comes to collect the pitch fees, Gertie and Billy discover their honeypot has been stolen by three hungry, talkative bears.
Meanwhile, the dastardly Ringmaster Heinkel (Carol-Anne Tilley), looking sinister in a top hat and greasepaint mustache (and delightfully, intentionally bad accent), and his personal Igor, Snot (Stu Poole) plot to take over the circus.
The script here prioritised the wordplay, with a pun-a-minute and dad jokes galore. There is no shortage of lewdness, just arch enough to sail over children’s heads, and even some fun breaking of the forth, with the characters themselves expressing disapproval for the show.
While the overwhelming mood is silliness, the plot is fairly logistically intricate, with twelve speaking parts. Under Russell Bailey’s direction, things are wisely kept moving at pace, and the few major set changes (painted sheets form the Big Top walls and roof, and are unpinned to reveal another lovely, painted set beneath) are kept entertaining by Ian Salisbury’s excellent live piano music to keep the audience engaged. The solo songs and duets dotted throughout are familiar and don’t overstay their welcome.
There isn’t a weak link in the cast, but Alice Hope at Dame Gertie deserves a special shout out. It goes without saying that the Panto Dame is a role usually inhabited by men, and there are gags woven throughout the script about her ‘strangely masculine hands’ and so forth. A woman-playing-a-man-playing-a-woman, Hope handles this double-role with aplomb, shooting off zingers like a stand-up comic and giving Gertie a hilariously campness (her diva sneer is a sight to behold) without ever becoming grating. Also excellent is Lucinda Kendrick as Goldilocks, who brings a compelling warmth and effervescence to the role (the love story between her and Silly Billy could be tedious in another production, here thanks to Kendrick and Poole, it’s genuinely sweet).
And as Snot, Stu Poole does a lot with a little role, playing a pitch-perfect henchman.
Ultimately, this panto not only held my attention, it brought out a childlike glee in me - what other response can one have to being encouraged to shout ‘BALLS’ at the top of one’s lungs several times in two hours? (It will make sense once you’ve seen the show, I promise). By the big, festive, cheesy closing number, you’re guaranteed to be grinning. You won’t want to miss this one. Oh No, You Won’t!
