Extra Extra! Read all about it! (insert small Victorian boy voice). That’s right, your favourite pantomime correspondents (veterans) have returned for their final Edinburgh Pantomime Review. Long-term fans of our work will remember last year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning review of Cinderella which received a well-earned five stars, mostly because of the use of the real life farmyard animals.
Overwhelmed with excitement and the joyful memories of last year, we couldn’t wait to return to Festival Theatre to see this year’s production of Jack and The Beanstalk. Though once again Capital Theatres have spared no expense on the huge production budget — with a large use of pyrotechnics, a terrifying giant, and a blow-up beanstalk — the staging seems to be the only indicator that the panto is Jack and the Beanstalk. It is safe to say that one could have easily watched this show and been none the wiser as to the story, with the plot lacking in its development. Instead, the show spends more time on slightly random and disjointed gags: from a Scottish Variety Show skit, a ten-minute tongue twister scene and a lot of Hibs and Harts jokes.
In spite of this, it is great to see the usual cast suspects of Grant Stott and Alan Stewart, now in his 50th year of panto (we measly three year panto veterans can only hope to reach this level of legend status). It is clear that these guys love panto as much as us, but it feels that sometimes their fourth wall breaking whimsy is given priority over the plot, leaving those that just really love Jack and the Beanstalk feeling denied.
The Edinburgh Panto is the perfect way for families (and us) to get in the Christmas spirit — with two hours of songs, laughter and Scottish jokes — but this year lacks both a plot we felt invested in, farmyard animals, and the random lady called Linda last year that really made the show.
For the final time this is your resident panto correspondents (veterans) signing out as we embark on 4 months of dissertation misery, and inevitably look back at these panto moments like a soldier in war looking at a photo in his wallet to give him strength.
Someone please employ us.
Lucy and Jemima x
(Panto hanger on and former theatre editor)
Photo by Douglas Robertson, courtesy of Capital Theatres.