He’s Behind You! presents the biggest ball of the
festive season in their new adult panto Cinderella:
Buttons Undone!
Saturday 21st November 2026 – Saturday 9th January 2027
Charing Cross Theatre, Villiers Street, London, WC2N 6NL
The award-winning pumpkins He’s Behind You! (Special Recognition Award, 2025’s UK Pantomime Awards) return to Charing Cross Theatre with another magnificently outrageous fairytale strictly for adults. Following last year’s smash-hit Beauty and the Beast: A Horny Love Story, the company brings its trademark blend of sharp humour, queer joy and original songs to Cinderella: Buttons Undone!, a wickedly funny deconstruction of the classic. This all-new adult pantomime swaps royal courts for tennis courts, fairy godmothers for fortune tellers, and proves that happily ever after can take more self-work than finding Prince Charming.
Set in the faded seaside resort of Lob-on-Sea, this madcap panto follows hotel maid Cindy, who puts the “slay” into modern day slavery and whose gangster stepmother Ida Bigschitt returns to make her and her stepsiblings Mercedes and Bentley’s lives miserable. Opportunity is served when the town’s inaugural tennis open is won by Smellarus’s Ivan Yassandvich, a bachelor playboy who is suddenly looking for a bride. Cindy longs for escape, Mercedes wants out of the family business, and hapless Bentley thinks he can get a break kickstarting his party planning career with an engagement ball.
But game, set and matchmaking go awry when Cindy’s gay and only friend Buttons slips into her shoes and into Ivan’s bed. Determinedly single until now, all he wants is to swap ends and play again.
Returning as the company’s incomparable dame is the sublime (The Guardian) Matthew Baldwin as Mercedes, and the excellent (Time Out) Chris Lane as her brother Bentley, a sibling pairing that promises big laughs and heated rivalry.
Co-written by Jon Bradfield (Animal, Park Theatre, Hope Mill Theatre; Queers, BBC) and Martin Hooper (Ghosted, The Other Palace, Norwich Playhouse), and featuring original songs by Bradfield, this obnoxiously gay extravaganza is directed by Andrew Beckett (Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, UK and International tour; Come Dine with Me: the Musical, Underbelly, Norwich Playhouse) with musical direction and orchestrations by Aaron Clingham and choreography by Carole Todd, whose extensive panto career includes directing Lily Savage in Snow White.
Journeying from the musty sea-view rooms of the Royal Palace B&B to lavish ballroom splendour, Cinderella: Buttons Undone! is brought to life with set design by award-winning David Shields (Heathers The Musical; 2026 Offie Award and Fringe Theatre Award winner for Beauty and the Beast: A Horny Love Story); costumes by Robert Draper; lighting by Matt Hockley; sound by Andrew Johnson; and is produced by Oli Sones for He’s Behind You!
With a festive farce full of gangsters, disguises and romantic confusion, He’s Behind You! shakes the dust off another classic: smartly stupid, joyfully chaotic and full of traditional pantomime spirit.
Co-writer and composer Jon Bradfield comments, We’ll be celebrating all the famous Cinderella moments, but not quite as you’d expect! We’ve had huge fun creating our version so that our wonderful muse Matthew Baldwin can bring his legendary dame skills to Mercedes with our brilliant regular collaborator Chris Lane as her brother Bentley.
Making theatre that people look forward to with friends as their Christmas treat each year is a joy, especially when you can make it with a team that you respect, love and trust. Adult panto doesn’t just allow us to make the kind of toxically rude jokes that I feel embarrassed about if I have family watching. It gives us the freedom to tell gay-centred stories within a big, shiny, magical, epic, popular and uniquely theatrical form.
Further casting to be announced soon and previous praise for He’s Behind You! includes:
an absolute blast – ★★★★★ Gay Times
Outrageous, affectionate and gloriously stupid – ★★★★★ West End Wilma
The hit of the festive season – ★★★★★ The Stag