Features

Robinson Crusoe And The Caribbean Pirates

Daniel Defoe would be turning in his grave were he to see
this camp and colourful adaptation of his 1709 fictional autobiography Robinson Crusoe. Pantomime demi-god Paul
Elliot
and Edinburgh’s
resident dame Allan Stewart have decimated that piece of classic literature,
cutting every ounce of epic life-affirming struggle and replacing it with innuendo,
slapstick and songs.

But if Elliot and Stewart were students in the art of
populist decimation, with this evidence they’d have graduated with first class honours. Because even though most of the
characters are utterly irrelevant to the wafer-thin plot, there is little
tension as to whether the goodies will win and chorus numbers are shoehorned at
every possible opportunity, the audience have a good night out.

This is largely due to Allan Stewart, whose domineering
performance as Mrs Crusoe is delightfully restrained whilst retaining the
acid-tongued hilarity Edinburgh
audiences have come to love.

We follow wee Robinson Crusoe (an energetic Johnny Mac) as
he races a dastardly pirate named Blackheart (a suitably mean Grant Stott)
from Edinburgh docks to the sun-kissed Mango Island.
Due to the pressures of the credit crunch, both are desperate to get their
hands on some buried treasure, the map of which is tattooed on Crusoe’s
backside.

Local references are paramount to the success of the King’s
panto, and Stewart’s first stage entrance sets the standard: via one of the
city’s long-awaited trams singing Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’. Jo Freer
maintains the show’s energy as the bolshy – if unnecessary – mermaid, Charlie
Cairoli
’s classic clowning is well tailored to the cheeky humour of the
city’s first-time theatregoers, and Moyo Omoniyi’s Girl Friday deftly
delivers powerhouse vocals in an assured pantomime debut.

Impressive sets and colourful costumes (watch out for Chris
Hayward
’s marvellous creation to finish act one) are matched with a beaming
chorus and rousing five-piece band. The plot could do with some strengthening and the first act lags, but the King’s panto is still a child’s perfect introduction to live
theatre and an adult’s guilty Christmas treat.