Review: Jack and the Beanstalk (Salisbury Playhouse)

Review by Seth Wilby

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pantomimes are famous for taking beloved stories and flipping them on their head in a quirkily fun way, but few are doing it quite like the Salisbury Playhouse’s Jack and the Beanstalk. The cow is Dolly Parton, the fairy is Elvis Presley, and our hero is seeking to defeat the dictator giant and bring song and dance back to Salisburyshire. But would this year’s festive offering be one giant success, or would it end up more of a has-bean?

Written by trio Plested, Brown & Wilsher, this is a unique twist on a beloved tradition, managing to deliver the perfect balance between the recognisable and the new in a truly inspired manner. By switching up the plot, the story gains more relevance than it often has in pantos, and, while still comfortably familiar (Jack will sell his cow, and he will climb a beanstalk, that’s for sure), they’ve been brave enough to instil the story with a new message on the importance of music which, although some plot points feel underexplored, offers a fun and flavourful interpretation. Despite this premise, the show is still packed to the brim with energetic pop numbers that make for the show’s most enjoyable moments.

Fear not, the production still manages to hit all the iconic panto tropes you’d expect, ensuring this is still the traditional experience that generations have grown up loving. As well as the character cliches, occasional innuendos, and more song parodies than you can count (everything from Whitney Houston to Wicked), director Gareth Machin has made this a bright, bouncy and highly interactive experience that had children throughout the theatre shrieking with glee. The audience is made to feel like a necessary character themselves, with action spilling up the aisles, and one particular foamy moment making me very grateful not to have been seated near the front. It runs maybe ten minutes too long to hold some childrens attention, and the absence of a big, instant opening number is notable, but Machin manages to craft an engaging exposure to the magic of live theatre.

Unfortunately, the production doesn’t always manage to hit the right notes. Although the writing has some very funny moments, too many of the puns don’t land, and, excluding one unexpected tap number, it lacks some of the genre-defying variety that could help it grow. By focusing on storytelling, there is a disappointing loss in the fun factor, and, by the end of act two, it has started to feel repetitive. It’s still an enjoyably festive way to spend two-and-a-half hours, but it needs to commit more (particularly to humour) in order to leave you with an everlasting smile.

What Salisbury excels at, however, is the creativity imbued into every inch of this production. Not only does the writing feel unique and considered, but Katia Lias’ design brings a spectacular amount of imagination and passion to the show. Following her award-winning costumes for last year’s Sleeping Beauty, Lias’ design is superb once again, with some masterly choices that saturate the visuals with a musical motif- trombones become sinks, records become headwear, and the puppetry design for the giant is exemplary. The set is all made in an on-site workshop, and this provides it with a homemade-feeling heart behind it all, filling the production with colour and life.

As Jack, George Olney demonstrates exactly how the perfect panto hero should be, giving us a charming and fun character who builds an instant rapport with the audience, paired with a great singing voice to match. Dan Smith plays Dame Caroline Trotter, who is, as expected, donned in outrageously over-the-top outfits. Smith’s Dame delivers on the role’s demands, crafting a flirtatiously flamboyant character and managing to hold scenes on his own, but a couple of the one-liners aren’t delivered to their full potential (although some admittedly still had me howling). As Jill, Isabella Mason offers a youthful eagerness, and, as her father, Pavarotti Perkins, Thomas Sutcliffe brings an enjoyable operatic edge to the production.

Emma Norman delivers a terrifically boo-able villain in the form of Fleshcreep, who, although never reaching cartoonish levels of evil, gives you a more layered antagonist than you’d typically expect. Nic James swaggers across the stage as the Elvis-inspired Fairy Fabulous, with some impressive interpretations of classic songs, giving the production its musical background. Stealing the show, however, is Eloise Runnette as Dolly the Cow, who holds your every gaze from the moment she steps onto that stage- splendidly extravagant, every moment with Runnette on stage is a joy, belting her way through Dolly Parton and, quite literally, milking her role for all it is worth.

What makes the Salisbury panto stand out in the crowded market is the amount of thought that has gone into making it both a creative and enjoyable exposure to theatre. Although I didn’t necessarily think it was perfect, there’s enough to enjoy and a good, strong heart behind it, which ensures that Jack and the Beanstalk truly is fee-fi-fo-fun for all the family.

Jack and the Beanstalk plays at Salisbury Playhouse until 11th January. Tickets from https://www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk/events/jack-and-the-beanstalk

Photos by Pamela Raith