The Core at Corby Cube, Corby – until 29th December 2024
Review by Amanda Allen
5*****
This was my first visit to the Core at the Cube in Corby and I was really impressed with the theatre and all the staff. I had a great welcome from the band of volunteers who were readily available to answer questions and guide us to seats. Right from the start the scene was set with the giant himself telling us to turnoff our phones! What followed was a master class in classic English Pantomime! Produced by Little Wolf Entertainment this is an art form that the rest of the world just doesn’t understand or appreciate.
With a relatively small cast and a band of local dance school pupils making up the ensemble we were transported to the fair and to Trott’s ice cream Parlor for the rags to riches love story that is Jack and the Beanstalk. Within a matter of minutes, we found ourselves yelling “Oh no we don’t” and “oh yes we do” in response to the fairy, Carrie Sell (Laura Porter) and the baddie Walter Waltzer. With a few tweaks to the classic plot we meet Walter Waltzer, the giant’s helper down on the ground (Cue lots of Booing and Hissing) played brilliantly by Joseph Beach, he was a very entertaining and funny baddie. Simple Simon, played by Oliver Halford, was a mass of energy and fun from the moment he exploded on to the stage. He engaged the audience from the outset and carried them along with him throughout the show.
The Dame, Helga Skelter Trott, absolutely stole the show. Brilliantly played by Morgan Philpott and wearing a succession of more and more elaborate dresses and wigs, she had the audience exactly where she wanted them to be. With such excellent writing by Morgan Brind that reflected the locality of the theatre along with many jokes based on current affairs, the show felt both topically up to date and classic.
A special mention must be made of the Head of costume, Emma Waugh, the dames’ outfits were wonderful and numerous, I lost count of the costume changes, but they were many and all were wonderfully outrageous, funny and colourful. The Mayor, Norman Naise (Guy Mott) was a good solid base for the rest of the cast to work around, having a slightly more serious and stately appearance he gave a great impression of someone who should be in charge but couldn’t quite bring himself to do it! His daughter Jillian (Daisy Ward) and Jack Trott (Joshua Price) were both great as the main characters and the love story based on them had a wonderful twist with Jillian being the big brave rescuer defeating the baddie and also getting down on one knee to ask Jack to marry her, a very modern twist to the classic tale.
The Set and costume designers deserve a special mention as along with the spoken jokes, there were plenty of visual ones all through the show. My favourite’s being the “Smug” Fridge freezer, the “DeLongshe” kettle outfit and the “Queasy Jet” aeroplane one. Along with the music and amended lyrics to many familiar songs we were kept entertained throughout the whole 2 hours and 25 minutes.
My only criticism is that at almost 2 ½ hours long it’s a lot for young children to sit through. I think it would still be as good if they could just reduce the running time by half an hour. A little less repeating the song jokes and it could be perfect. As it is, it’s a great night out, the best of Christmas traditions, good value for money and a great show in the classic English tradition of pantomime with a modern twist. Go and see it, you will laugh all night and leave with a big smile on your face.