Great songs, wonderful sets and a flying
wicked queen – the only thing green about this show will be the envy of people
who don’t go and see it.
It's funny how some traditions live long and strong, year
after year. Take Panto season, which is here again (oh yes it
is); the usually demure and sedate theatre-going audiences are suddenly
turned into, and accompanied by, screaming kids sporting all manner of
flashing appendages; the knowing whispers when an actor misses a line are
swapped for roars of laugher both on & off the stage and the 4th wall is
torn down and ceremoniously trampled on as young and old are encouraged to
great the cast with cheers, boos, chants and giggles. That tradition is constantly reinforced by
the production company Qdos who bring glitz, glamour, sparkles and no shortage
of special effects back to Darlington.
This years offering at the newly reopened
Hippodrome is the first major production to grace the refurbished theatre and
give the seats, sound system and stage hands a really good workout. With Snow White the chosen story, the
traditional formula for panto is very well observed; plenty of goading the
younger audience into shouts & screams, the singling out of a few teachers
to make the next school dinner a constant source of amusement and of course, a
liberal smattering of double entendres to ensure the adults can laugh along,
tho not always at the reasons the kids believe.
On a stage of many stars Zoe Birkett (born
like yours truly in Consett) dominates every scene she’s in – its been a long
time since we had to knowingly share ‘our’ Zoe with the rest of the UK but each
time she comes home she brings such energy, fun and enthusiasm that it’s like recharging
the pride batteries.
For this
performance as the Wicked Queen she has
the opportunity to give us a full
appreciation of all her talents, ending the 1st act with her
rendition of Queen of the Night which sounded and felt like Tina Turner in the
Who musical Tommy (bit of an odd reference, but anyone who has watched the Ken
Russell rock opera will surely appreciate the similarities) - when Zoe ‘brings it’
she brings it all, leaving you wondering how can someone soo good be soo
deliciously bad ?
For this
performance as the Wicked Queen she has 
Continuing the time honoured traditions, the comedy double act
of Eric Potts (a madcap dame to rival Christopher Biggins as Mrs Norah Crumble
with an extensive range in baking ) and Liam Mellor (the daft as a brush Muddles)
guarantee bucketfulls of slapstick comedy, laugh out loud routines and just
plain old ‘forget your inhibitions’ silliness.
Bizarrely, they even occasionally manage to out-funny stand-up superstar
Patrick Monahan, the not so evil queens henchman (tho if you want to get an
extra session of Patrick then check out Bishop Auckland Town Hall comedy night
on Fri 22nd). The funniest (and
yet possibly scariest for the 3 guys) scene must be the discussion around how
best to prepare the game bird for the royal dinner – I won’t spoil anything here,
but the script writers certainly knew how to ensure the cast didn’t dare have a
nip of something before a show.
The starring role of Prince Lee is played admirably by Lee
Ryan, with plenty of energy and a great voice, he quickly identified with
the dabbing youngsters in the audience (and a few of their mums too). Full of very cleverly written songs
(especially the ‘Darlo’ opening number ) and plenty of in jokes about the town
and our neighbours, this had a very local feel which, with along with Zoe et
al, ensured that whilst the deco might be new and the layout slightly
different, the New Hippodrome still feels like home.
Panto is a very English form of theatre - many of my foreign
friends just don't know how to approach one and consequently they struggle
to accept the 'anarchy' that ensues, but that's what this tradition is all
about - forget the quintessential British reservedness and grant yourself one
evening of self indulgent silliness - if laughter is the best medicine then
Darlington Hippodrome audiences will be the healthiest in all the land.
