Sleeping Beauty

Thanks to so many bad experiences with panto, I've always figured that I'd been put off for life. To me it's always been tacky, childish and an exercise to be avoided at all costs thanks to my annual primary school trip. It was always a disaster: something went wrong on stage, the audience frequently loved to heckle and it was universally awful. As my first forays into theatre were through panto it's a miracle that I stuck with it to become such a huge fan of the stage today.

However, I'm a firm believer in second chances and although I disliked an awful lot (everything) about the primary school trips to Crewe I wasn't about to let bad memories of shocking productions taint my opinion of panto now. Surely it's deserving of a second chance? I wanted to do something quintessentially Christmassy to mark the end of my last Michalemas Term at university and so I leapt at the chance to see Sleeping Beauty at the Park Theatre. Would this shake my long standing hatred of panto or confirm my previous theories were correct?

The short answer is that I can honestly say I had one of the best evenings at the theatre, ever.

Despite all the preconceived notions I had of panto, my hopes were raised before it even began with the venue itself. A stone's throw from Finsbury Park station, this beautiful new theatre was opened in May 2013 to rave reviews, and it's easy to see why. If you're visiting I'd recommend arriving early and relaxing in the cafe and bar with a cheeky glass of wine, as we did.

Sleeping Beauty offers a hysterical trip to the magical land of Waa, in Jez Bond and Mark Cameron's new imagining of the classic fairytale of a princess cursed by an Evil Witch to prick her finger on a spinning wheel on her eighteenth birthday and thus fall into a hundred years slumber. Beginning in Finsbury Park, the audience is introduced to an old lady and her adorable dog (Hazel, the Park Theatre Dog) waiting for the bus, who recounts the story of the Princess of Pilipot and a handsome young king from the neighbouring Kingdom of Babuüs.

(IMAGES SOURCED FROM www.parktheatre.co.uk)

The play effortlessly jumps from the reality of a bus stop in North London straight into the ridiculous fantasy world of Waa. As expected with panto it's over the top, silly and completely ludicrous, but surprisingly full of genuinely funny jokes, excellent comedic timing and a real sense of class. It's almost as if Sleeping Beauty is poking fun at the traditional panto genre whilst simultaneously adhering to the format. There was physical comedy, slow motion sequences and audience participation as anticipated, but nods to Shakespeare ("two kingdoms both alike in haberdashery"), Monty Python-esque humour and in-jokes about Arsenal and Sue Barker took it to an entirely different level. There was no polite chuckling from the audience: we were bent over into our programmes clutching our sides laughing and wiping away tears the whole evening.

The layout of the theatre itself lends to a more intimate affair (similar to the Donmar) and a simple set allowed the audience to focus solely on the actors. In a sea of absurdity, Aimee Grey somehow manages to play the Princess with a sense of calm and poise (even when greeting other characters in their native languages), successfully highlighting the insanity unfolding around her. I was fully expecting to see the young king played by a woman in keeping with panto traditions, but once again Sleeping Beauty left me pleasantly surprised. Craig Fletcher is truly excellent, switching from the love-lorn king to his odd professor alter-ego perfectly, clearly at home with farcical comedy. The majority of the laughs, however, come from the double act of Mark Cameron's Dame Ottom and her son, Ernie (Matthew Cavendish). The two bounce off each other well, and managed to keep the gags going throughout the entire play. Much has to be said of the two sisters as well, with Caroline Deverill deliciously nasty in her monologues as the Evil Witch, in direct contrast with the quirky and upbeat Good Fairy (Kaisa Hammarlund).

(IMAGES SOURCED FROM www.parktheatre.co.uk)

There's so much I loved about this panto it's hard to contain it all in a spoiler-free review. It's safe to say that I utterly adored it, and for someone who never thought they'd enjoy panto again I was thrilled to be proven wrong. I even enjoyed having to learn how to sing the Pilipotsian version of Happy Birthday (complete with actions), didn't mind the children's flashing hand-held lights, and for once didn't bristle at the thought of audience participation - something I never thought I'd write in a million years...

As the safety flannels (brilliant equivalents of a safety curtain) descended and we shuffled out into the cold, I genuinely couldn't remember having such a good evening. It was the perfect start to Christmas for me, but I wouldn't hesitate to go back now and see it again if only to prolong the festive spirit in the face of long hours of essay writing and arduous dissertation research. If you're mourning a return to a cold and rainy London and can't face hibernating in the library just yet then make a trip to the Park Theatre and have yourself transported to the land of Waa. It's guaranteed to lift your spirits and the original music, hysterical comedy and beautiful theatre will definitely have you smiling whatever your age.

*****

Sleeping Beauty is running till 19th January 2014, and more information can be found here.