ONLINE PANTOMIME REVIEW: The Panto That Nearly Never Was - Theatr Clwyd, Mold.

What a year this has been! Pantomimes up and down the Kingdom have been forced to shut or not even start in the first place, and only those who are in the business know just exactly what a financial catastrophe that is, as pantomimes are most theatres' big earners with many actors / performers making a living out of the genre.

Mold's Theatr Clwyd however, came up with a dastardly clever ploy, and turned this setback to their advantage, going online with their socially distanced pantomime specially written for the medium of film but keeping, as far as was possible, the spirit of panto alive.

It was very clever and funny.... oh yes it was! The wicked witch felt lost and disconcerted; she should be evil, she should be working, but if panto has been cancelled then she also has been 'cancelled' and she has no meaning. She decides to try and enlist the help of the other traditional panto characters.. the good fairy, the Dame and his / her witless son, to go on a quest to try and restore panto in order to give them their meaning and their existence back. An inspired storyline from the pen of Christian Patterson. A unique, contemporary and witty twist.

Moreover, as much of the traditional panto routines, gags, audience participation, silliness etc had been kept in, and all the material was completely family friendly., with the more adult humour being over the younger ones' heads and kept to a minimum. And the punnery was Tim Vine-worthy! Superb.

A cast of seven, observing social distance guidelines throughout, performed their panto on the Theatr Clwyd main stage whilst it was filmed from all angles and streamed live to our living rooms and computer screens. My one slight niggle, and it is a personal one sorry, is that I don't like it when the characters are also the band - I'm a traditionalist and like a separate band, preferably unseen or in a pit, and to let the cast get on with their primary job of acting. However under the current circumstances, and budgets being obviously very tight, this was both understandable and forgiveable. And I have to be honest, it didn't interfere in any way with my enjoyment or understanding of the piece either.

Daniel Lloyd played Dame Deni Dolittle with a perfect mix of everything a Dame really should be. So many theatres and panto companies are now using Drag Queens to play the Dame role and this just spoils the whole entertainment in my opinion, the two genres are not at all the same and need different skills and styles of acting; Lloyd had it off to a Tee! His hapless and silly son, Dylan (Ben Locke) was very likeable, and I feel sure that with a live audience of youngsters his character would have taken off and shone much more. On film it came across as a little OTT needing a live reaction to his silliness, but again, completely understandable. 

Alice McKenna (The Evil Bella Trix) and Chioma Uma (The Good Fairy Maybelline) worked excellently against and with each other and there was a great ensemble feel to the whole. They were aided along the way from Luke Thornton (The Town Crier), Lynwen Haf Roberts (Helena Henderson), and an onscreen video of Phylip Harries (Wizard and Dame).

The lighting was excellent, the sound very good, the costumes colourful, but the set was very simple and uninspiring - again undoubtedly a budget issue and again completely understandable this year - with live music by the cast, this was a very upbeat, gag-heavy, delightful, excellently realised online family panto which really put a huge grin on my face and I shed a small tear when the cast took their curtain calls to silence. 

Running at 70 minutes through, it was also the ideal length for an online children's piece of entertainment, and certainly the best online panto this reviewer has thus far seen! Catch it while you still can.. it's online until the 3 January 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall

on - 30/12/20