Union Theatre – until 23 December 2023
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Tinderella – Two Big Balls, One Happy Ending is a riot of rude and raunchy fun. This adult panto has all the traditional ingredients – fairy tale plot, audience singalong, birthday shoutouts and the cast singing “If I were not in pantomime…” – immersed in a cesspit of fabulously filthy jokes. Allowing the audience to decide what Buttons calls them is a brave move after pre-show drinks – we settled on the demurer option of “slags” on press night.
Writers Leonard Hatter and Pedro El Toro don’t deviate far from the traditional tale of Cinderella, with poor Tinderella (Laura Mead) doing all the work at Hard On Hall. (Dad has buggared off to Benidorm and her two stepsisters Chlamydia (Edward Denby) and Clitoria (Alan Kelly) take all the money she makes on Only Fans.) Buttons (Joshua David) loves Tinderella, but she is oblivious, and goes dogging on Clapham Common whenever she needs to go out and get wood. When Prince Charming (Lauren Bimson) throws one of his legendary balls – he has the biggest balls in the land – Fairy G (Gabriel Mokake) tries to help Tinderella meet the prince. Maleficent (Monty Camisa-Bundy) has other ideas – wanting to set Tinderella up with her ginger prince and use Tinderella’s social media savvy to make Maleficent and the ginger prince relevant again.
It’s all shambolically silly and the jokes are fired off at breakneck speed by the game cast. Kelly and Denby are hilarious as the ugly sisters, and their “seduction” of men in the front row is rib-ticklingly terrifying. Mokake and Camisa-Bundy are gloriously OTT as the good and evil fairies and Joshua is a hoot as Buttons in an energetic performance. Mead and Brimson are wonderful as the fairytale couple, with Brimson’s thighslappingly louche Charming dropping double entendres with every breath and Mead’s Tinderella the only sane character onstage, brilliantly displaying disbelief and confusion as the madness unfolds around her.
Director Robert McWhir keeps things moving along at a brisk pace, with no chance for the audience to lose interest as the plot gallops along after Tinderella leaves a more personal item than a shoe on the palace steps, leading to a very untraditional climax as Charming tries to find the perfect fit.
You’ll laugh, you’ll sing, you’ll squirm, and you will try to hide as the ugly sisters come close – a brilliantly bawdy night out for those lucky enough to get tickets before the run sold out.