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| Louise Beresford, Helena Morais, Anna Spearpoint and Anais Lone Picture: Helen Murray |
It’s not often that you see the words ‘political’ and ‘panto’ in the same sentence, but Theatre 503’s The Fairytale Revolution: Wendy’s Awfully Big Adventure is no ordinary panto. The villain is an evil dictator who commands the characters follow the stories written out for them (and pays the wolves less than minimum wage in the tax haven of Enchantia). Eat your heart out, King Rat – the narrator is here.
But Wendy Darling (played by the wonderfully sassy Anais Lone), eager to escape the drudgery of looking after the Lost Boys in Neverland, and Captain Hook (a side-splitting Louise Beresford) – who wants to swap piracy for poetry, despite his struggles to put together a Haiku – set out to upturn the status quo. Which just so happens to be the aim of this all-female production, too.
The pair enlist the help of Baker Swife (Anna Spearpoint), who cleverly undermines the Baker’s Wife fairytale trope – unnamed women defined by their husband – and memorably duets with Wendy about their utilitarian revolution. Even their gender-swapped swear alternative, ‘Son of a Prince’, adds a feminist tilt to the show, written by Beresford and Spearpoint, who met while performing in last year’s Theatre 503 panto.
By creating a brand new fairytale universe, the writers are able to put a fresh spin on stories from our childhood, from a love affair between the Beast and Prince Eric, involving a sex act with Aladdin's magic lamp, to cameos from well-loved characters such as Rapunzel, who is freed by Hook when he cuts her hair off (Prince Charming says he’ll try online dating instead), and Bo Peep carrying a lamb tagine… It’s a winning concept.
The jokes range from the silly to the downright filthy – a favourite being when Dad Joke connoisseur Hook, after fixing the broom of a witch he is enamoured with, says: ‘I’ve been around wood and seamen for a long time, I know a thing or two about shafts.’
But there’s also plenty for the kids, including audience participation involving shouting out when they see the pink glow of the narrator (a beautiful touch from lighting designer Ali Hunter, helping the audience visualise a disembodied voice), and sweet-catching. Musical director and composer Hannah Benson also gets the audience moving in their seats – the panto’s modern songs and dance routines take inspiration from school disco tracks and show tunes, with lyrics about Captain Hook sung to the tune of Hamilton’s title track; baking soundtracked by the Cha-Cha Slide; and Let’s Do The Pirate Again performed to Rocky Horror’s Time Warp.
As the trio use their skills to defeat the narrator, Daisy Blower’s design comes into its own. Papier-mâché ogre arms which reach out from offstage, and a swooshing dragon tail, bring to life both the monster who’s hooked on Hook’s poetry and the dragon who gives them a ride to thank Swife for her pie. A particular highlight is returning from the interval to find the gang on stage disguised as pies – complete with ‘soggy bottoms’.
As for the cast, Anna Spearpoint is a gem with a superlative voice. Whether she’s wielding her invisible baguette, singing about lusting over Robin Hood, or talking to her bakery named Ken, she steals the show. Helena Morais also shines with her multi-character skills; when she’s not playing Peter Pan (who is very much not the hero of this story: he takes Wendy for granted, forgets her name and moans to Pinocchio in the pub) or Hook’s idiotic but lovable ship’s mate Smee, she’s playing an array of fairytale characters – including, with the ingenious use of a wig on a stick, Hansel and Gretel at the same time.
Combine these talented performers with a dash of clever songs with heart, with lyrics such as 'We’re singing a together song together, like all those songs about being together'; a sprinkle of masterful direction from Carla Kingham; and a pinch of quickly resolved turmoil, and it’s a recipe for festive success that Swife would approve of.
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