Review by Sam Waite
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Come one, come all, it's time once again to gather at the Charing Cross Theatre for all the filthy fun of another adult panto, courtesy of He’s Behind You! Following on from last year’s Sleeping Beauty Takes a Prick, He’s Behind You hope to wow again with this year's offering, Jack and the Beanstalk: What a Whopper! Silly, sexy, and utterly salacious, was this to be another creatively frisky triumph?
Set in the Yorkshire village of Upper Bottom, this take on the classic story of farm boy Jack, his struggling mother, and a surprisingly impressive stalk begins with Jack ever so lonely having moved far from the nearest Grindr match, and his mum trying desperately to keep Lady Fleshcreep from buying up yet another local business. With the help of the new Reverend, a loyal of dimwitted friend, and the fairy who owns the tea rooms, perhaps Jack can find a way to keep Fleshcreep from getting her claws into their farm.
I'll begin with the panto dame, who I doubt would stand for anything less. Dame Dolly Trott, a former soap star turned local farmer played with delightful eccentricity by Matthew Baldwin, is a marvellous creation. Baldwin brings humour, heart, and hilarity to Dolly, balancing her diva tendencies, her bawdiness, and finding wonderful moments of humour in just how manic the quick changes are. This mix of manic energy and undeniable charisma is perhaps matched only by Fleshcreep herself, the stupendous Jordan Stamatiadis. Withering and wonderful, Stamatiadis continually finds ways to keep Fleshcreep’a cruelty from becoming stale, always successful in getting the laugh.
Indeed, the entire cast are a joy to watch, even if not as singular in their presence as these two duelling businesswomen. Local fairy Dale is blessed with plenty of charisma courtesy of Chris Lane’s performance, while Jack himself is given a funny, filthy single-mindedness thanks to Keanu Adolphis Johnson’s wide-eyed delivery. A particular highlight is Simple Simone, played winningly by Laura Anna-Mead, whose performance and stellar characterisation make the biggest argument for the more adult content sometimes burying much funnier moments.
Of course, we go to these adult-only pantomimes for the raunch and risqué of it all, but John Bradfield and Martin Hooper find such strong moments of comedy elsewhere that things feel in reverse. Where there are seemingly endless double (and often single) entendres and only a light scattering of less bawdy humour, I might actually have preferred that the character and culture-driven jokes were given more room to breathe, and that the naughtiness was saved for its strongest moments. Bradfield and Hooper have crafted some very strong characters, and some genuinely interesting new plot beats, and it's a shame to see them so often reduced to sexy set-ups.
The village of Upper Bottom is attractively crafted by David Shields, leaning into a cartoonish visual style to compliment the traditionally kid-friendly medium, as well as to contrast the filth spewing forth from the characters. Seen the most, and do the most finely detailed and delightful to behold, is the kitchen of Dame Trott herself, turned into a locale for cow milking and for rehearsing a local performance of Camelot. Later re-dressed to demonstrate the newfound wealth of the Trott family, Shields does a marvellous job of bringing this fanciful Homestead to life.
Bradfield’s original songs are your usual panto fare, fun and infectious in the moment but difficult to remember after the fact. A solo for Simone, false started repeatedly for a delayed gratification, breaks this pattern in being joyous, genuinely memorable, and adding some more knowing charms to the village fool. Likewise, choreography from Carole Todd is great fun to watch if not overly inventive, filling the space nicely and quickly establishing a sense of unity among these ragtag villagers. Often, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, with the numbers ultimately more enjoyable as a complete work than their individual components may have been.
Costume designers Robert Draper and Sally Lloyd, unsurprisingly, do their strongest work with the Dame. While everyone else is decked out in fun outfits adding to the villagers cartoonish charms, Dolly is resplendent in a series of magnificently over-the-top ensembles. The swiftness of the changes and the thrill of each reveal serves to highlight their work, and to allow Baldwin many opportunities to win the crowd over with quick-fire ad-libs. Director Andrew Beckett largely keeps things under control, but giving Baldwin a good amount of freedom is a strong choice, resulting in several excellent payoffs.
Possibly too crude for its own good, and a tad too long to keep up its fast-earned goodwill, What a Whooper! is, at its best, a thrilling piece of festive theatre. It's a shame that some of its stronger elements are overwhelmed by the increasingly overused smut, but the roars from some of the audience proved that not all will share the same concerns. It's brash, for some will be too much, but Dolly Trott alone is more than worth the price of admission.
Jack and the Beanstalk: What a Whopper! plays at the Charing Cross Theatre until January 11th 2025
For tickets and information visit https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/jack-and-the-beanstalk
Photos by Steve Gregson