Cinderella- Truly, a pantomime for all, resplendent with show-stopping songs, spectacular sparkles, and pumpkin coach!

It’s that time of year again! Panto is with us and Ruth Kettle-Frisby has been to see Cinderella at the Queen’s Theatre.

Cinderella is a side-splitting, Shakespearean-flipping performance, celebrating festivities of gender equality, disability inclusion, friendship, laughter and hand-dancing. With enchanted tree folk and an all singing and signing Cinders, this one has Blueprint Festival’s Kate Lovell’s inclusive direction written all over it.

Truly, a pantomime for all: resplendent with show-stopping songs, spectacular sparkles, a pumpkin coach, and a fabulously evergreen fir-tree Godmother spreading hope, joy and a gag a minute on her quest for emerald wings. 

Showcasing an accomplished female-led cast, the exception of a hilarious gruesome twosome of dames is the icing on the cake. Their outrageously ugly behaviour towards our protagonist is elevated to hilarity by an uproarious script ripe with confectionary-based puns and scorching innuendos for the grown-ups.

“What is it that all ladies love?”, enquired Prince Charming (played by Elizabeth Rowe), innocently. 

“Equality?”, suggested Inês Sampaio as the gloriously grounded fir-tree godmother…

“No, balls.”, clarified the inimitable Dominic Gee-Burch as Instagrammia.

Aside from the innuendos, deadpan local football humour made the crowd roar, and a healthy injection of political humour keeps things topical. With Elon Musk as a “cold-hearted meanie”, and Piers Morgan as the bogeyman, it’s nice to see both sides of the Atlantic covered! 

I must say, it pleased us both to hear ‘Cinderella’ rhymed with ‘cellar’ (where the sisters threatened to put her before banishing her to Clacton), as per Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s well-loved classic Each Peach Pear Plum. The gruesome twosome, Instagrammia and Tiktokia (played by Jared Leathwood) were spectacular, both visually and comically, and my five year old certainly had their number: “I’ll keep my thumb down until they’re good. If they be good once, I’ll put my thumb up”, she promised in my ear.

Formulaic echoes from last year’s critically acclaimed performance of Dick Whittington are felt most notably in thecharming absurdity created by the approach to conflict in the play, provided by a gherkin-gobbling goblin with deceptivelydelicate sensibilities!

A refreshing lack of misogyny saw it conspicuous only in its absence, with character traits of meanness and fun replacing ‘ugliness’ and ‘handsomeness’ of appearance. Healthy relationships for children are gently modelled in rejection of ‘friend-zoning’ pressures they may face. When poor Buttons (brilliantly played by Lauren Chinery) laments their unrequited love for Cinders, a little voice whispered in my ear: “that’s ok; they can still be friends”.

Hats off to Em Prendergast’s Cinderella who stole the show,and to Elizabeth Rowe’s Prince Charming of Chelmsford, who did a bang-up job having had a mere four days to prepare.

It’s perhaps my little daughter’s opinion that matters most to you, and she thought it was ‘amazing’, although she did point out that, in fact, “Cinderella doesn’t have to marry anyone”.

Whether it’s sparkle, joy, and laughter for the kids; or a hilarious night out for the grown-ups, this year’s panto is without a doubt a glittering success from all angles.

The two very ugly sisters!

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