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Jack and The Beanstalk- Park Theatre

December 3, 2014 by Verity Healey Leave a Comment

Review of: Jack and The Beanstalk
Price:
Adults £20.50 Concessions £17 £12 Tuesdays for N4 residents and for under 25s (Proof required, limited availability) Family tickets (two adults and two children under 16) £65 Schools £10 -

Reviewed by: Verity Healey
Rating:
3
On December 3, 2014
Last modified:December 3, 2014

Summary:

this panto manages a rare thing- an evening of light heartedness, comedy and fun audience participation with some sophisticated theatrical paradoxes

More Details

It’s panto and not as we know it at the Park Theatre, with Jez Bond and Mark Cameron’s version of Jack and The Beanstalk, a continuation of their Chronicles of Waa and last year’s hit Sleeping Beauty.

Paige Round, Killian Macardle, Michael Cahill, Omar Ibrahim, Gloria Onitiri, photo credit Ben Broomfiled

It’s an over used term ever since Michael Billington applied it to Richard Jones’ Annie Get Your Gun in 2009 but its lack of sets and reliance on props [and their quirky reference to contemporary culture] makes it a bit Brechtian and certainly a more Commedia dell’ arte take on our traditional Christmas theatrical fair.

But we begin with a group of actors gathering to play Hamlet, although, by common consent, it’s quickly decided to perform the fairytale instead. Now we are in the world of boss Ms Grimm [transforming from Gertrude] Jez Bond and Mark Cameron’s story beginning in a bean factory where giants are slaves and where Ms Grimm’s daughter, Grenthal [Ophelia] is in love with one of the smaller giants, Geoff [Laertes]. As she is under the threat of an arranged marriage they soon plot to escape, with disastrous consequences. Cut to the land of Nowen and Jack [Hamlet] and his Tupperware consultant mother Tina [Grayson Perry anyone?] living in dire straits. The land is stricken with bovine earwig flu and they must hide their cow Daisy from the incompetent and corrupt animal inspector. Eventually of course, Jack finds a/ the bean, which has something to do with Ms Grimm and Geoff and Grenthal, and makes the dreaded climb to the top of the beanstalk to find- I won’t reveal- but suffice to say, both plots come together and everything turns out happily ever after. Naturally.

But not quite. Because ring fencing a panto which in itself is not traditional in the Hackney Empire sense of the word, with Hamlet, complicates the issue. Perhaps lying at the heart of this very modern stripped back re working of the traditional Cornish legend of Jack, are the ideas the conflict between the panto’s stylistic device of a play within a play produces- and with it, a comment on fate and following one’s inner light. On the one hand, we have a bare stage and costume rail and written parts for the Stage Manager and ASM – its street theatre, with everyone included. We have the traditional norms of the male Dame, the colourful costumes, audience participation [in this performance it just so happened we got Sir Ian McKellen who instantly pretended to be Derek Jacobi] and singing- the usual call and response techniques. And of course, good conquering evil. But to parallel the panto with Hamlet means we have to question whether good does conquer evil all the time- Polonius’ famous speech to his son Laertes, included here, tells us it does not – Polonius follows his own advice but still ends up badly. As in the panto, the characters in Hamlet follow their own truths, its just that here these truths lead to tragedy. In contrast with Jack and The Beanstalk, where everyone’s truths lead to a happy ending. In this way, this panto manages a rare thing- an evening of light heartedness and comedy and fun audience participation with some sophisticated theatrical paradoxes that children and adults alike can understand.

True to the spirit of panto, the cast is small, with only 5 talented and energetic players performing at least 19 roles- Michael Cahill, Omar Ibrahim, Gloria Onitiri, Killian Macardle and Paige Round are to be commended for their commitment to such wide ranging and physically demanding parts. Nicely directed by Jez Bond, one overriding message could be ‘To thine own self be true’ with an appendage pointing out that this does not mean that things will turn out how you want them to. Although for Jack etc, it does of course. It’s just pot luck whether you get to play Jack or Hamlet.

Jack and The Beanstalk continues at the Park Theatre until 4 Jan 2015

With

Michael Cahill, Omar Ibrahim, Gloria Onitiri, Killian Macardle, Paige Round

Co-Written & Directed by
 Jez Bond

Co-Written by 
Mark Cameron

Musical Director / Orchestrator 
Dimitri Scarlato

Costume Design by
 Josephine Sundt

Lighting Design by
 Arnim Friess

Set Design by
 Jonny Dobson

Sound Design by
 Chris Bartholomew



Choreographer 
Melli Bond

Fight Director 
Claire Llewellyn of RC-ANNIE Ltd

Assistant Musical Director
 Rebecca Chalmers

Assistant Directors
 Sophie Gill & Tamar Saphra

Casting Directors 
Lucy Jenkins CDG and Sooki McShane CDG

Production Manager
 Sarah Cowan

Company Stage Manager
 Sophie Sierra

Assistant Stage Manager
 Lisa-Marie Lewis

Costume Supervisor / Wardrobe Mistress
 Jessica Bishop

Author: Verity HealeyI write about theatre, I write short stories/ poetry www.verityhealey.blogspot.com, I also sometimes make films.

Filed Under: Review Tagged With: Jack and The Beanstalk, Jez Bond, Mark Cameron, pantomime, Park Theatre

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  • December 3rd, 2014
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