“So, what is panto Phil?”
I’d asked Jenni, the new intern at Temple Works, if she fancied going to see Jack and the Beanstalk at the West Yorkshire Playhouse This is not as weird as it sounds, honest. She’s just got here from Finland, bright, curious, full of questions, and keen to know more about English culture. Naturally, being Christmas, I thought pantomime. She quizzed me in the pub – well, you’ve got to start somewhere . . .
“It’s traditionally English theatre, kinda for kids, usually the plot is a fairy tale, and . . . erm”, I rummaged the dusty corners of my memory for any information that would make clearer what exactly I was inviting her to. “Men dress as old ladies, young women pretend to be blokes, animals speak, the audience get to shout and scream at the bad guy, there’s always a happy ending . . . usually based on the corpse of the villain . . . it’s great fun . . . English people love it, we take our kids every year . . . ”
It’s often hard to read people from different vultures but my guess was that her face gave away a range of emotions from stupefaction to horror.
“I’ll see you at six,” I said, not entirely convinced she would show up.
She looked a bit nervous as we took our seats high up in the corner. The place was packed. “Many children!” she observed. I was glad I’d got that bit right at least. And it was reassuring that the show began with an invasion of chickens, who entered from the back of the theatre strutting and squawking, teasing the kids, terrifying the grown ups, and making a right show of themselves. “See” I said, “some talking animals.” Though I had to admit quietly to myself that usually the panto animal is a cat or a dog, something furry and friendly and mammalian – I’d never seen chickens before and I wasn’t sure where this was going. The kids didn’t seem to mind. They were howling with laughter. I suspect most of them had never encountered an actual barnyard hen but that didn’t matter, and the actors were obviously having a clucking good time, stretching it beyond the limits of most adult endurance, much to the kids’ delight and amusement.
It took a while for me to grasp that the two guys were playing females – penny didn’t clang till one of them laid an egg – of course, chickens are ladies! And it took me by complete surprise when one of the chickens morphed into a cow. The granddad sat next to me whispered something about this being over most kids’ heads. But I looked around – the kids seemed perfectly content to accept that a chicken could be a cow, a man could be a woman, one person could be someone else, and the shortest guy on stage could be a giant – even the littlest of the little ones had no problem suspending disbelief and following the story with rapt fascination.
And the strength of the story telling is what made this panto such a treat. I remember lots of pantos as a kid being nothing more than a string of gags dragged along a tired plot and a bunch of set pieces to satisfy the egos of celebrity actors. This Jack and the Beanstalk is cleverly plotted and craftily cast. Putting the chickens as the protagonists and making Jack a bit of a gormless, feckless layabout was a cracking idea – the kids easily identified with the problems the chickens faced trying to communicate and make Jack do what was obviously the right thing. The chickens are articulate, persistent, and collectively a force to be reckoned with. Jack finds any reason to fool around – even when he’s in the cooking pot he doesn’t make much of an effort to free himself. He does dance amusingly however.
Visually the pantomime is lovely and occasionally startling. The set is beautifully spare so when there are moments of high drama – the shadow scene in particular which was just a little trick of the light but quite magical – the effect is striking. The transformation of the beanstalk took me by complete surprise and probably deserved the biggest gasp of the evening. And Daisy, the goose that laid the golden egg was just . . . well I can’t even begin to explain the oddity of that, it was genuinely unnerving. Very Mighty Boosh.
The show ended, as predicted, with one dead giant, murdered in a health and safety nightmare to the general merriment of the audience, and a chicken dance. I think Jenni enjoyed it and I hope it have her greater insight into the English national psyche . . . here’s what she thought in her own words:
Jack & the Beanstalk play does really give you alternative way to spend few hours. The rendition is childrens play, but it has hidden humor also to adults. In the Jack & the Beanstalk scenery and the actors are good, and there have been found right people to these tasks. Music was well done and the singings were nice to listen. Actors were protean with all different kinds of roles during whole play. The plot progessed well excepted dragging start, and first half could have been used more efficiently. Stretching some of scenes at the beginning of the play was unnecessary but excusable measured them to whole play. Even though the play was making fresh version about this classic story, viewer started to wonder some of the charters too big role in the play. Interactivity with audience was nice, and children were focused to watch during the whole play. The last 15minutes of the play were hilarious, and they made every viewer to leave the place with a smilingly. Somehow this play made also adult feel a bit warmer for a while, and what else could you wish from a good show
By George, she got it!
Jack And The Beanstalk,
Courtyard Theatre,
West Yorkshire Playhouse,Leeds,
until January 21 2012. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or wyp.org.uk