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REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
04/12/2021
They’ve only gone and done it again! The team at the Everyman Theatre have come up with an absolute knockout of a pantomime that is one of the best (if not THE best) I’ve ever seen.
After last year’s run was curtailed by Covid, this year’s production of Jack and the Beanstalk is just pure pantomime class.
After last year’s run was curtailed by Covid, this year’s production of Jack and the Beanstalk is just pure pantomime class.
A huge amount of the credit must go to Samuel Holmes who could justifiably take a triple bow at the end as he not only wrote the script, but also co-directed the show and, if that wasn’t good enough, he played the part of the evil Captain Fleshcreep with absolute relish with some lovely flashes of self-deprecation.
Set in Gloucestershire of all places, the story is based rather loosely on the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk but for much of the show it goes somewhat off-piste to allow for all sorts of fun and games to ensue.
There is a giant (sort of) voiced by none other than Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, making his panto debut and obviously loving it. He has ‘designs’ on taking all the money off the people of Cheltenham.
There’s also a beanstalk – quite an impressive affair – and a lad called Jack (Darius J James) who sells the family cow in exchange for some gold coins, which turn out to be beans.
Apart from that, most of the show basically gives the splendid cast a chance to make the audience laugh as many times as they possibly can.
The script is razor sharp and it isn’t just a case of a laugh a minute – frequently there were three or four really funny gags in the space of 20 seconds as the audience was peppered with laughing gas.
No one, it seems, could escape falling victim to the comic wit of the cast – be it Linda in the audience, the good people of Stroud and Gloucester, vegans or, quite topically, the Conservative Party as at one point, when the stage was full, it felt like the Tory Party Christmas party.
Much of the hilarity came from Jack’s mother, Dame Tulisa Trott (Kevin Brewis), fluttering her eyelids as she was having a wild old time on stage.
There was also a character called ‘Spirit of the Unicorn’ (Kane Verrall), a rather odd character clad in an extremely tight-fitting silver costume, who I had never encountered in a pantomime before but who seemed to enjoy weaving a bit of magic on the beans.
In a show rather dominated by male actors, there was one notable female performance – Gabriela Gregorian as Princess Susan of Sudeley – who gave a solid performance and enjoyed circling above the audience as ‘Biggles’ in her impressive aircraft.
Leaving the best till last, the highlight of the show for many will have been to see Tweedy in another Everyman panto. A comic genius, he never fails to deliver, whether riding various sizes of unicycles, getting plastered in milk shake in the Marshfield Farm scene or his hilarious antics with five toilet rolls during the 12 Days of Christmas sketch.
It’s not just Tweedy’s ability to clown about and do slapstick comedy with a deckchair, for example, he’s actually a great comic actor and if you watch him closely, he just can’t fail to make you smile.
Back to the story, there is a rather clever twist in the tale regarding the Giant…I will say no more.
Samuel Holmes’ fellow co-director is Nick Winston who also choreographs the show. He made some great choices with song selections which included ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’, Shake It Off’ and Car Wash.
The cast seemed to love it, the audience loved it, my two children absolutely loved it. Well done the Everyman.
Jack and the Beanstalk runs at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, until January 9. For more details, see The Everyman Theatre Pantomime
David Wood
Set in Gloucestershire of all places, the story is based rather loosely on the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk but for much of the show it goes somewhat off-piste to allow for all sorts of fun and games to ensue.
There is a giant (sort of) voiced by none other than Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, making his panto debut and obviously loving it. He has ‘designs’ on taking all the money off the people of Cheltenham.
There’s also a beanstalk – quite an impressive affair – and a lad called Jack (Darius J James) who sells the family cow in exchange for some gold coins, which turn out to be beans.
Apart from that, most of the show basically gives the splendid cast a chance to make the audience laugh as many times as they possibly can.
The script is razor sharp and it isn’t just a case of a laugh a minute – frequently there were three or four really funny gags in the space of 20 seconds as the audience was peppered with laughing gas.
No one, it seems, could escape falling victim to the comic wit of the cast – be it Linda in the audience, the good people of Stroud and Gloucester, vegans or, quite topically, the Conservative Party as at one point, when the stage was full, it felt like the Tory Party Christmas party.
Much of the hilarity came from Jack’s mother, Dame Tulisa Trott (Kevin Brewis), fluttering her eyelids as she was having a wild old time on stage.
There was also a character called ‘Spirit of the Unicorn’ (Kane Verrall), a rather odd character clad in an extremely tight-fitting silver costume, who I had never encountered in a pantomime before but who seemed to enjoy weaving a bit of magic on the beans.
In a show rather dominated by male actors, there was one notable female performance – Gabriela Gregorian as Princess Susan of Sudeley – who gave a solid performance and enjoyed circling above the audience as ‘Biggles’ in her impressive aircraft.
Leaving the best till last, the highlight of the show for many will have been to see Tweedy in another Everyman panto. A comic genius, he never fails to deliver, whether riding various sizes of unicycles, getting plastered in milk shake in the Marshfield Farm scene or his hilarious antics with five toilet rolls during the 12 Days of Christmas sketch.
It’s not just Tweedy’s ability to clown about and do slapstick comedy with a deckchair, for example, he’s actually a great comic actor and if you watch him closely, he just can’t fail to make you smile.
Back to the story, there is a rather clever twist in the tale regarding the Giant…I will say no more.
Samuel Holmes’ fellow co-director is Nick Winston who also choreographs the show. He made some great choices with song selections which included ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’, Shake It Off’ and Car Wash.
The cast seemed to love it, the audience loved it, my two children absolutely loved it. Well done the Everyman.
Jack and the Beanstalk runs at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, until January 9. For more details, see The Everyman Theatre Pantomime
David Wood
