Christmas show

Cinderella (Dundee Rep)

Witty script, excellent performances and bold lack of concern for tradition

12 Dec 2011

Writer Phil Porter has taken perhaps the best-loved of all festive tales, pulled it apart and reassembled it with a bold lack of concern for tradition. Yes, folks, this is Cinderella but not as we know it. For starters, this version is set on a…

Sleeping Beauty

King’s Theatre panto sends everyone home happy

9 Dec 2011

As much a part of the Glaswegian festive season as green and blue santa hats, the King’s Theatre panto looks like an institution defiant of change. So it is refreshing to find a new face, Arron Usher as Jimmy Jingles the Jester, going through the…

Cinderella (King's Theatre, Edinburgh)

Panto dream time Allan Stewart, Andy Gray, Grant Stott and Paul Elliot strike gold once again

8 Dec 2011

The great strength of the King’s panto, year upon year, is its ability to hook audiences of all ages and tastes. The script, co-written by Paul Elliott and everyone’s favourite dame, Allan Stewart, features great dollops of slapstick and toilet humour…

Rudolf

The Arches strike again with imaginative alt.panto starring Ross Allan and Rob Evans

7 Dec 2011

For the last couple of years, The Arches have offered an offbeat alternative to the traditional panto – and this year’s Rudolf is no exception. The classic reindeer tale (red nosed fella, rejected by society, wins out in the end by saving Christmas) is…

Mister Merlin

The Weegie-centric Tron panto continues to entertain despite uncertain future

7 Dec 2011

Renowned for their particularly weegie take on a festive tale, the Tron may sadly be unable to continue their affordable Christmas shows due to the loss of their corporate sponsor. Unless they find another, the theatre will need to raise £20,000 a year…

A Christmas Carol

Dickens' festive spook story is given a compelling and creepy outing by Graham McLaren

7 Dec 2011

Scrooge and Marley’s gloomy office. Dangerous cables loop across the ceiling, piles of dusty papers fill the walls. As we enter in twos and threes to a whooping, fussing welcome, Scrooge himself – a grizzled figure in shrunken tailcoat and slippers…

Jackie and the Beanstalk

Johnny McKnight's panto manages to entertain while challenging traditional gender roles

7 Dec 2011

According to panto dame Dott Von Trott, things have got so bad in the austerity-stricken pantosphere that ‘parents in Bridge of Allan have started firing their nannies and learning their own kids’ names’. Serious times indeed, and there’s something…

Beauty and the Beast

Stuart Paterson's 'children's play' is enjoyable but lacks the energy of true panto

6 Dec 2011

The basic story is so simple it’s mythic: girl meets beast, they fall in love, beast turns into boy. Stuart Paterson’s venerable adaptation is a tad more complicated. There are ugly sisters (as if a titular ugly character weren’t enough), played with…

Liam Rudden of the Brunton Theatre’s Aladdin - interview

The writer-director shares his insight into the panto-creating process

6 Dec 2011

What are the challenges of adapting such a well-known story? The biggest challenge is ensuring that the narrative is not lost in amongst all the routines, gags and songs. Finding the right routines and songs to advance the story is crucial. How does…

Pantomimes and Christmas shows in Scotland 2011

Festive work aimed at young audiences in Edinburgh and Glasgow

15 Nov 2011

In the UK, pantomimes traditionally form the first encounter that children have with theatre. But for children under three years old, the noisy drama of a panto can be a disorientating and unnerving experience. However, in recent years, theatre-makers…

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Mix of contemporary with traditional is glittery, family-oriented and fun

15 Dec 2010

Mixing contemporary tunes with a traditional storyline, the King’s performance of Snow White is suitably glittery, family-oriented and fun. The cast are solid throughout. Darius Campbell (previously Danesh) provides a teeth-clenchingly sincere and…

Jack and the Beanstalk

Andy Gray, Allan Stewart and Grant Stott reunite for perfect antidote to the bitter winter.

15 Dec 2010

Following a stint in Glasgow, Andy Gray’s reunion with the King’s resident pantomime dame Allan Stewart and recurring baddie Grant Stott is one of the most anticipated events of the capital’s Christmas season. And when he appears on stage as King…

The Three Musketeers

Chris Hannan's bawdy reinvention chaotic at times, but with a warm festive atmosphere

15 Dec 2010

Alexandre Dumas’ legendary trio undergo a bawdy reinvention in Chris Hannan’s new Christmas play for the Traverse. It retains the story’s core characters – the eponymous musketeers, plus d’Artagnan and archetypal pantomime villain Cardinal Richelieu…

The Snow Queen

Lyceum Christmas production as bold and bumptious as any panto

15 Dec 2010

Dear festive theatre-goer, don’t let yourself be misled this Christmas. (And no, we don’t mean about Father Christmas.) Don’t be taken in by the sleek, icy blue publicity for this year’s Lyceum Christmas production – for this show is as bold and…

Sleeping Beauty

Oran mor lunchtime Christmas show for adults a bit of a dog’s dinner, but plenty of fun

15 Dec 2010

Penned by panto veterans David MacLennan and Dave Anderson, Oran Mor’s 2010 lunchtime Christmas show for adults is another ‘alternative’ affair, wringing its topical laughs this time out of austerity Britain. The popular tale of the pretty princess…

Aladdin

SECC Christmas show stars The Krankies and John Barrowman

15 Dec 2010

If you think this arena spectacular violates that unspoken rule of knowing crapness in pantomime by promising 3D graphics and a celebrity star for whom the phrase ‘it’s behind you’ unusually couldn’t be applied to his career, think again. The SECC’s…

Flo White

15 Dec 2010

Last year’s Tron Theatre panto Ya Beauty and the Beast was an anarchic Weegie-style rehash of a popular fairytale that proved about as mindful of a coherent plot as Cinderella is of her shoes. If a formula ain’t broken, why fix it? In Flo White, the…