A modern take on Jack and the Beanstalk: Left – Omar Ibrahim (Jack) and Michael Cahill (The Dame), and right – Gloria Onitiri (Grimm) and Paige Round (Grenthel). Photo credit: Ben Broomfield
Panto: Jack and the Beanstalk
Theatre: Park Theatre
Playwrights: Jez Bond and Mark Cameron
Director: Jez Bond
Review by Esha Chaman
Fee Fi Fo Fum. The bellowing voice of a legendary giant is booming through Park Theatre in a quirky musical adaptation of Jack in the Beanstalk. A bizarre mishmash of Shakespeare, singing mariachi shepherds and Tupperware (I kid you not), this production will leave you in stitches this festive season.
As the show opens, you would mistakenly believe you are watching the Shakespeare classic Hamlet rather than a classic panto. But the ringing of a mobile phone disrupts the moody scene, forcing a disgruntled audience member (played by Killian Macardle) to complain: “I’ve got a ticket for Jack and the Beanstalk”. The show then makes a frenzied comedic switch from the State Room in Elsinore, Denmark, to the magical Land of Waa.
There are two realms in the Land of Waa, with the story starting in the bleak Gazoobian mountains, home to the giants. The villain, evil inventor Ms Grimm (Gloria Onitri), looking like militaristic Cruella De Ville, whips her weary and fearful giants to complete the laborious task of picking and packing beans.
Ms Grimm is on a mission to achieve world domination and sets out to punish her inferior giants by miniaturising them into magical beans using a peculiar device – a Hemi-Spherical Tupperware Force Field. This enables the beans to grow into gigantic beanstalks and transforms the giants into evil beings to wreak havoc to take over the Land of Waa.
Such is the fate awaiting the smallest giant in Waa, Geoff (Macardle), the sweetheart of Ms Grimm’s daughter Grenthel (Paige Round). The love between Geoff and Grenthel inspires them to try and escape the trap-infested Gazoob and Ms Grimm’s evil plan. Sadly they fail. After being caught by the cackling villain and zapped by her Hemi-Spherical Tupperware Force Field, Geoff is transformed into a bean and a cruel giant.
The export of these magical beans from Gazoob, and Grenthel’s search for Geoff, transports us to the joyful second realm of Nowen – the peaceful and spiritual home of Tupperware and the show’s star Jack (Omar Ibrahim).
Jack, his charmingly camp mother Tina (Michael Cahill), a Tupperware consultant to the stars and their trusted cow Daisy, are struggling to make ends meet. They are forced to place Daisy in the care of the Sombrero-wearing mariachi shepherds so she doesn’t fall into the clutches of the local inspector.
After debating whether “to bean or not to bean”, Jack invests the last of his three Johnsons (the Nowen currency) into a magical bean from Gazoob, which rockets into a sky-high beanstalk that harbours the now blood-thirsty Geoff at its cloudy peak. Will Jack save the day? And what will become of Geoff?
Though the classic fairytale is still at the heart of this pantomime’s narrative, Jez Bond’s ambitious production is overloaded with quirky distractions and colourful costumes. At first the obsession with Tupperware and the mariachi shepherds bursting into song seem to be random diversions from the main story.
After a while, these eccentric elements pull the narrative together to show the redemptive power of Tupperware as it reunites Tina and Ms Grimm, long-lost sisters torn apart by a tragedy.
Despite wondering at times what is happening, Jack and the Beanstalk’s wonderful cast will have you roaring with laughter, hissing and booing with the best of them, and up on your feet shouting “we do” to the frequently asked question: “Who loves Tupperware?”
Talking of which, don’t forget to bring along your best pieces for the mid-performance Tupperware contest with the delightful Tina which, on press night, included a cameo appearance from Sir Ian McKellen.
With a heart-warming moral – that “it doesn’t matter if you’re tall, small or medium, it’s what’s on the inside that counts” – this uplifting, charming and original pantomime is brimming with clever puns and inventive slapstick.
Definitely a panto for all to enjoy this Christmas.
Jack and the Beanstalk is at the Park Theatre until 4 January 2015.