The Old Rep Theatre Birmingham – until 31st December 2025
Reviewed by Emma Millward
4****
Pantomime season has arrived in Birmingham, and The Old Rep Theatre is celebrating its tenth year of collaborating with the Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) group on its festive productions. The BOA group is a multi-academy trust that specialises in creative, digital, and performing arts education. The students work with the theatre, director Lorna Laidlaw, and production team to bring the show to the famous stage of The Old Rep, while gaining invaluable work experience and an opportunity to showcase their talents.
BOA Group’s Cinderella certainly showcases the commitment and team effort required to bring such a production to life. Not only is the show staged in Birmingham, but the story is also set in the second city. Brummie (and Black Country) accents are used throughout, and I lost count of the local references and in-jokes. This gives the show a unique charm that local audiences will really enjoy. Many of the songs in the show have a Birmingham twist to them, most notably “Good Morning Birmingham”. Although this was a clever spin on a classic show tune from Hairspray, unfortunately some sound issues slightly dampened my enjoyment. The music overpowered the vocals, and many of the lyrics were lost and hard to understand. Similar sound issues occurred throughout the show, causing certain portions of dialogue to be missed.
The show begins with the Fairy Godmother (Therese Collins) giving us a little backstory. A backdrop projected introduction cleverly used slick set and AV design by Ebrahim Nazier and lighting design by Stephen Abbiss to show us how Cinderella (Jaiden Tsang) ended up as a maid to her dastardly Stepmother, Baroness Hardup (Julie Ann Baker) and her two daughters, Kim (Victoria Tew) and Chloe (Sam Yetunde). The daughters are a more modern spin on the ‘Ugly Stepsisters’ trope reimagined as neon-clad social media influencers always asking the audience how they looked. They become surprisingly endearing characters who just enjoy shopping at Primark! Cinderella herself is also given a more modern twist, rather than just seeking love, she has ambitions of being a dancer. The Baroness is as wicked as expected, albeit with a slightly robotic edge!
Jaiden Tsang and Stefan Davis have believable chemistry as Cinderella and The Prince. Their shared love of dance makes for some showstopping routines. The ensemble cast features students from BOA’s academies who all deliver outstanding performances. I also enjoyed that Buttons (Henry Hart) isn’t written purely as a lovelorn suitor for Cinderella, he is a genuine friend to her, and Hart’s ad-libs to the crowd when things didn’t quite go to plan were well received. Standout performances come from Stefan Davis as The Prince and Jordan Laidley as Dandini. They work well as a comedic duo and Laidley was especially adept at dealing with any unexpected audience participation with a witty comeback. Therese Collins excelled as a slightly cheeky Fairy Godmother who popped up at unexpected times throughout.
Pantomime writing and staging can be tricky, requiring just the right mixture of the familiar and the unexpected to keep all audiences happy. I think scriptwriter Janice Connolly achieves this. There were a few surprises along the way, and some very modern references. Not all of them land well with the audience, but pantomimes often like to push their luck and get a little near the knuckle. This production manages to avoid going too far into vulgarity. While not without its minor flaws, at its core there is a cast giving their all, and that’s what pantomime is all about. BOA Group’s Cinderella is a charming, funny and beautifully Brummie twist on a classic fairytale.