Review: SLEEPING BEAUTY, Lighthouse Poole
Chris Jarvis has established himself as the star of the Lighthouse pantomime over the last few years and once again shows his great understanding of the genre as writer, director and for a third consecutive year as the Dame.
This year’s title is Sleeping Beauty, and he plays Nanny Nutkins with great charm, a well-judged drop of adult innuendo and always reminds the audience that he is a man in a dress wearing brightly coloured Doc Martins. His first entrance, dressed as Mary Poppins with a large carpet bag, is a wonderfully executed comic routine as he pulls ever larger objects out of the bag while making eyes at the gentleman in the front row, immediately winning over the audience. There are excellent props too for an amusing well-timed food pun run sketch.
Sleeping Beauty is a relatively simple tale. The Princess is cursed at her christening by Carabosse, and so spinning wheels are banned from the country to protect her. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, Carabosse plans to arrange for the Princess to find one in a tower and when she pricks her finger, she sleeps for a hundred years or until kissed by the Prince. In the modern way, the programme contains her consent to being kissed while incapacitated.
As with all pantomime scripts, it is the combination of local references and fresh reworkings of standard routines that brings much of the comedy, delighting the audience. The King (Todd Carty) and Happy Harry (Josh Haberfield) literally throw themselves into a very messy wallpapering slosh scene and Harry is joined by the Princess and the Dame for a very well-executed and freshly updated ‘12 Days of Christmas’ with a range of beauty products and fabulous Dame costume. The Ghost scene gets a freshen up as characters are chased out of the auditorium. These adjustments satisfy the returning audiences’ expectation of seeing the routines while still adding some surprises and this adds immensely to the joy of the show.
Carabosse is played with a wonderfully evil glee by Sarah Louise Young, and she finally gets to show off her wonderful Kate Bush impression in an amusing exchange with the Princess (Isabella Kibble), while Melaina Pecorini shines as a delightful Fairy Sunbeam from her first song, ‘Can You Feel It?’ For good measure, they throw in a huge puppet dragon whose appearance does generate some gasps from the younger members of the audience.
Yet overall, it is the stream of topical references to Oasis tickets, rabbits, Kier Starmer, Chinese Spies, Netflix, The Cherries beating Manchester United, and MasterChef that shows the attention to detail in the script. The local council who support the venue don’t escape a reference as “incapable of doing anything” nor does Jarvis himself with an observation: “How hard can it be to be a CBeebies presenter”, both raise a smile but seem a little harsh given what a wonderful show is being presented.
All around the country, there are local professional pantomimes on tight budgets, but the Lighthouse once again shows what can be achieved with a lovingly crafted script, wonderful colourful props, a Producer and Director who knows their audience and their local community, and are determined to put on a good looking show that not only entertains but keeps the pantomime genre fresh and modern.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
Sleeping Beauty plays at the Lighthouse Poole until 5 January 2025, with further info via the link below:
https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/sleeping-beauty/
Photo credit: Richard Budd