If like us your festive spirit needs a kick start – then we highly recommend going to watch the Oxford Playhouse’s 2023 pantomime.
Jack and the Beanstalk opened this week and as usual is filled with fun and silliness and the performance really gave us the festive boost we needed.
Nothing says pantomime more than a show that thrives on audience participation – and that came in bagful’s!
Meet Susan, her brother Jack and their mother Dame Mary who all live in Oxonfoot, where something strange is going on. Things have started disappearing – the police station toilets, chickens and even a railway bridge (insert gag about idiots / bridge / closing a major route into town) sound familiar – it certainly was to the audience who gave it a huge clap.
Jack and the Beanstalk is loosely based on the fairy story about the beanstalk and the giant! With the Dairy family down on their luck they are forced to sell their cow to raise some cash. But instead of cash, Jack swaps the cow for magic beans, which overnight grow into a giant beanstalk… and so the adventure begins.
Can the team find out who is stealing their property? Is there really a giant? Will Jack ever declare his love to Jill? Can Fairy Foxglove find her magic powers? Will the baddie Hendrix the Horrible ever be caught? All will be revealed…
This show has everything – music and song, jokes and fun, a fairy, a love story and even a pantomime cow who produces four-pint bottles of milk.
For us, Hendrix the Horrible, aka Ivor Biggun, played by Robin Hemmings, stole the show. Within minutes of stepping on to the stage we were all laughing, shouting and booing. He selected a victim from the audience – Amy during our performance – and she was bombarded with cheesy chat-up lines such as ‘Are you tired? Because you’ve been running around my brain since we met’ throughout the show. He was expressive, mischievous and his delivery was tip-top.
The other standout character is Dame Mary, played by Alasdair Buchan, who had us in stitches – the endless stream of jokes! She had helpers named Ben and Jerry and learned to make ice cream at Sundae school, boom boom. We loved her ‘Neapolitan-style’ wig, the fabulous outfits and the many risky double-entendres.
Final mention must go to Fairy Foxglove, played by Madison Swan, who brought a little magic to the show with her wonderful voice.
The cast was a mixture of professional actors and the young company, who did really really well!
If you do one thing this Christmas go to the pantomime, let your hair down and be entertained! The show runs until January 7, for more information and tickets viewed https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/jack-the-beanstalk
