Jack and the Beanstalk

Synopsis

Jack, a dim boy, sells the family's cow, their last remaining possession, for some 'magic beans', his mother is furious and throws them out of the window. Next morning there is a magic beanstalk, which Jack climbs to the land of the giant. There he rescues the love interest, and the goose that lays the golden eggs and runs away as the giant returns booming 'fee, fie, foe, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!' and occasionally 'Be he alive or be he dead I'll grind his bones to make my bread' depending on how bloodthirsty the panto is! As the giant follows Jack down the beanstalk Jack grabs an axe and chops it down thus killing the him.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 3 December 2012

Children and adults alike know the story back to front and inside out. The trick for anyone writing a new pantomime script for a popular, not to say favourite, legend is to keep the familiar but dust just the right amount of fresh magic onto it to ensure that attention stays firmly fixed on the action and the characters. Nicholas Pegg's 13th pantomime for the Queen's Theatre succeeds in this admirably.

He's helped by Carol Sloman's catchy score, which is lyrical at just the right moments – the Jack and Jill duet and the slow-building ensemble which starts with a solo voice and builds to a quintet and then full chorus – and some glitteringly imaginative sets and costumes by Mark Walters. The cast throws itself wholeheartedly into the magical world prefigured by puppets showing us the back story while a kindly old woman tells us how the giant came by his ill-gotten gains and at what personal cost to her.

Alison Harding doubles this charact...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review