Tyne Theatre, Newcastle – until 3 January 2022
Reviewed by Hayley Warters
5*****
Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is! Christmas pantomime is back indeed and what a wonderful first pantomime to visit other than the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle. Enchanted Entertainment presented Sleeping Beauty which kept our eyes peeled and not once made us yawn!
I’ll be honest, this is the first time we have ever attended a Tyne Theatre pantomime…. How dare I? As a Boro girl visiting the toon, I could tell this was a Geordie Panto! Some lines were misheard and some jokes were misunderstood due to the strong accent, however as the story flowed there was no need for the husband to translate. The cast includes Lewis Denny, a young fresh-faced dame with fabulous attire and a sneaky lovely singing voice. Yes we know a bit about you Mr Denny! Laura Baxter as Sleeping Beauty, Jo Jo as a ballsy Fairy Fortywinks who brought toughness to her character! It’s nice to see more strong females in a pantomime. BGT winner Matt Pagan and Sarah Annakin as Carabosse. Obviously we can’t forget the hilarious Charlie Richmond as Jester who made our sides hurt with every punch line. Charlie kept the scene flowing when Sleeping Beauty clearly didn’t make the stage on time due to a costume issue. Charlie entertained with joke after joke and even when the jokes were dying Charlie’s energy didn’t stop by introducing the problem to the audience which made it even funnier. After all this is pantomime. Well done Charlie! And thanks to Lewis who didn’t help which also made it funnier!
From the moment the pantomime started this production was packed with sparkles, colour, laughter and smiles. You could feel the buzz fill the theatre. Maybe it was the relief of visiting a pantomime finally after the past two years or maybe it was the hilarious cast? All we know is that it was a pleasure to attend.