Director: Phil Clark.
Starring: Tweedy The Clown, William Elliott, Wendy Abrahams, Joanne Heywood, Eleanor Brown.
Synopsis: The Everyman’s Pantomime featuring the return of Tweedy The Clown and William Elliott as the Dame, based on the classic fairy tale.
It is the pantomime that has become one of Cheltenham’s most successful ever. Over the past few weeks, the Everyman’s Sleeping Beauty has played to nearly 40,000 excitable theatre-goers, smashing attendance records that have stood for nearly 20 years. Led by the scarlet topped Tweedy The Clown, and supported by a brilliant company, the show has pulled in over half a million pounds in box-office receipts, and it is easy to see why.
THN lurked in the gods at a special performance this past Friday afternoon, watching over the magic and the majesty of the production led by Tweedy, William Elliott as panto ‘Dame’ – the interestingly named Nurse Nice Hands, Wendy Abrahams as Fairy Snow, Joanne Heywood as the villainous Fairy Hysteria, and Eleanor Brown in the title role of ‘Beauty.’ This lead cast is brilliantly supported by a magnificent company featuring dancers of all ages; the lead adults in Jak Allen-Anderson and Frankie Jones, and also the stand-outs from the local Janet Marshall Dance Company, all of the way down its smallest, and indeed youngest member, eight-year-old Katie Rowley.
We all know the story by now, but this Phil Clark directed festive fairytale, throws in a few swerve balls that surprise and delight in equal measure. There are renditions of the Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a version of Let It Go from the Disney film FROZEN, and some slapstick high-jinks from Tweedy and the quite brilliant Elliott. There are some fantastic set-pieces, the most entertaining being those involving its lead clown, and others that require the involvement of its audience, who, in the performance that we witnessed, laughed from beginning to end.
With a week to go until it’s glittering finale, which ends a magnificent, record-breaking run, one must wonder what will follow next year, and how indeed the Everyman, its creative team and its very popular cast will top this really special production.
[usr=5] Sleeping Beauty plays the Everyman, Cheltenham until Sunday 11th January, 2014.
