Plested Brown and Wilsher have established themselves as a clever and creative writing team of the Newbury Corn Exchange Pantomime over the last four years, innovating the storytelling of traditional stories to give them a strong local feel, a modern ethos and produced within the modest budgets of this lovely community theatre. This year, they have stripped back the tale as old as time, made adorable by Disney, to its bare bones and weaved their panto business around the simple narrative. The witch has turned a schoolboy into a beast because he rejected her at the school disco, and it is up to Belle to reverse the spell. As plots go, they don’t get much thinner than this.

It gets off to a very good start with Jade Johnson’s Fairy Common entering stage right as she must on her green tractor to ‘Brand New Combine Harvester’ and immediately striking a rapport with the audience and winning their support . Opposite her, Jenny Perry’s Wicked Witch of the Reading West is a very trendy modern villain, full of villainous energy but a little too likeable to generate lots of boos.

Dame Pansy Pocock’s (Graham Mackay-Bruce) entrance maintains the strong start with his cheeky look, fruit and veg puns and asking the audience when Dame Pansy comes to “squeeze my plums” as she promotes her stall, Pansy Pocket’s Perfect Picked Pitch. It is a great opening routine ending with a slick switch to an Edwardian swimming costume accompanied by singing melons! However, after that, the pace slows with characters spending too much time in the audience and some of the new ideas not quite working, like Ratty (Lois Elizabeth Glenister) and Batty’s (Robbie Noonan) routine with dustbins, an odd game of hide and squeak and when the Ensemble march on Highclere Castle, one of them carries a banner that says “Rail workers unite” for no obvious reason.

They do deliver some very good pieces of pantomime business. The ghost bench is freshened up by setting it in a bed with French bed bugs while they sing ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’. The ‘12 Days of Christmas’ is reworked with a new set of props and the usual high energy chaotic delivery.

The central love story of Belle, a feisty modern girl studying psychology (played by Chloe Gentles), and a gentle disgruntled beast (Nathan Shaw) lacks the jeopardy and drama of other versions of the story (there are no wolves, no father at risk, no fight scene to kill the beast), but there is a well-presented transformation centre stage, and she takes control by proposing marriage at the end.

The two-piece band of Ben Barrow and Luke Hinchcliffe provide a good backing to a number of well sung dance routines (choreography Holly Hughes) including ‘Consider Yourself’, ‘Feel Alright’, and ‘Enough is Enough’. The cast of ten work very hard in well drilled dance routines and give the show an upbeat fun atmosphere.

This is a good-looking show with sets and costumes by Mark Walters of Glitter Pantomime, and has a pleasant feel with plenty to appeal to the audience from the very young to their grandparents. Even the occasional adult innuendo is well received. But the script does not quite the match some of the author’s previous shows at this venue and does not give enough for the vibrant young cast to really show what they can do and yet feels a quite long 2 hours 15-minute running time. But if you are local to Newbury, you will adore the local references and you will not be able to resist their endeavour, so are sure to leave with a smile on your face and a warm Christmassy sense of wellbeing.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Nick Wayne

Beauty and the Beast plays at the Corn Exchange Newbury until 31 December, with further information here.