'A Fairytale Journey Across The Mersey' is a professional pantomime, which is being performed at St. Luke’s, better known locally as The Bombed Out Church in Liverpool. This is the opening show to The Liverpool Theatre Festival, which runs until next Sunday. Reviewing this show is a much welcomed return to theatre as sadly many venues are still closed. The venue was extremely welcoming and a safe place to go as social distanced seats were in place and all the audience’s temperatures were taken on arrival.
Now on with the show, 'A Fairytale Journey Across The Mersey' was produced by Wise Tortoise Entertainment. The production manager, Stephen O’Hagan has done a really good job getting the show on to the stage. His production values were of a good standard as demonstrated throughout the pantomime. Additionally, Kai Jolley has done really well directing the show. His vision and passion were clearly noted, plus his direction was tight and controlled.
Kai Jolley wrote the script too, loosely based around traditional fairytale stories. There were connotations and homages to the great, classic pantomimes that we all know and love. The writing was good, contained some funny one-liners and there was a fantastic equilibrium of humour for both the adults and the children. There was plenty of laughter and some comedy incidents, which the audiences found highly entertaining. Special mention to James J Kirby for his portrayal of Granny Manny, who stole the limelight for me with his hilarious one-liners, facial expressions and outrageous outfits from start to finish.
The cast also included Tilly Smith as Princess Maureen Anna (Mo-Anna), Eva McKenna, as Snow White and The Giant, Benjamin Keith as Joe Weetabix and Prince Charming. Smith added a great sense of being naive, but her character grew stronger as the story developed. McKenna did well playing a nice, good character, then the baddie in another scene, showing good versatility. Keith plays his characters with a very handsome persona. Finally, by no means least, the show would not be compete without James J Kirby, who was majestically up to his usual capers and mischief as Granny Manny (The Dame).
'A Fairytale Journey Across The Mersey' follows the journey of young Princess Maureen Anna on her voyage across The Mersey river. Always prioritising the people of her island first, she now must face her most daring challenge yet. She embarks on her journey across The Mersey with her beloved Granny Nanny, where they get shipwrecked and they meet a friend, Snow White, who really wants to assist them, where she can. Together, socially distanced of course!, they face an array of different adventures on their travels, where they meet the not so massive giant again and the mysterious Joe Weetabix. On their merry travels, they make friends with a Prince, who is oh so handsome and charming. Aand all together - at 2 metres apart! -, they continue their adventure.
The running themes were family, trust, love and relationships. The narrative managed to convey a lot of drama, laughter, comedy and emotion throughout I particularly liked how the story was told in a humourous way for both the adults and the children. The acting was of a good standard. The comedy timing and delivery of one-liners was excellent.
The set design was very spacious for all the cast to move about freely. There was a good flow of scenes and were timed incredibly well. No expense was spared with all costumes as they were of an extremely good standard, especially Granny Manny’s outrageous outfits, which lit the stage with all their vibrant colours. There was a great use of props utilised for certain scenes. I thought the cast did a great job by adding the illusion of the River Mersey to the audience and using St. Luke’s Bombed Out Church as their very own castle.
Kai Jolley achieved some good musical direction too, as the vocals sung by the cast were of a good standard and there were a diversity of songs featured in the pantomime. There were several songs performed, which the young audience were familiar with and there were timeless classics for the adults, so we were happy too. I really liked how the songs reasonated with certain scenes, which added more conflict to the characters. The standout song for me was the opening song, Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen, as the song set the scene for the story to go forward and created a lively atmosphere with the audience.
Like all traditional pantomimes, there was loads of audience participation for the adults and children to play along with the show. I took my niece and nephew to the pantomime, who were fully entertained throughout and mesmerised by all the goings on with the characters and the story arc.
The technical team consisted of Gareth Edwards and Osian Griffiths, who clearly did an excellent job ensuring everything techincal for the show went really well. All the stage and the actors were lit brightly and clearly visible to the audience. All lines of the dialogue and vocals to the songs could be heard clearly. (this was an open-air outdoor peoduction).
On a final note, if you’re looking for a local theatre show, then look no further than coming along to The Liverpool Theatre Festival, which is hosting a diverse array of shows over the coming week. There is something for everyone. 'A Fairytale Journey Across The Mersey' had everything you would expect in a typical pantomime with interesting characters in a good, solid story lavished with layers of fun, love and comedy. A great day out for all the family.
Reviewer - Mark Cooper
on - 12/9/20
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