THEATRE | Reviews
N O T S N H O J N H O J
SUBVERSIVE PANTO FUN MIRACLE ON 34 PARNIE STREET ●●●●● Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sun 4 Jan
Johnny McKnight’s (got) back, baby. This almost-homage to classic 40s Christmas tearjerker Miracle On 34th Street doesn’t just celebrate bad taste – it twerks over it, with nae knickers on.
The storyline concerns Kristine Cagney Kringle (director / writer McKnight) – a vision in red flammable lingerie and blow-up Kim Kardashian ass – fired from her job in a department store (TJ Confuse, a technicolour tat-fest designed by Kenny Miller) and her quest to prove Santa Claus can be a lady in these supposedly progressive times.
Will she prevail, or will the oleaginous face of capitalism, Mr Bellhammer (a magnificent Darren Brownlie) defeat her? McKnight is on grotesquely hilarious form, his ripe Glesga patter deployed as if he swallowed Hello! magazine, and regurgitated it into scattershot pavement poetry, referencing everything from the patriarchy, through the Glaswegian high street to his Tom Daley obsession.
The standout scenes emerge when he riffs off spindly imp Brownlie, but there is
assured support from Gavin Wright as Snoozy (great deadpan comic chops) and sassy Chantelle (Michelle Hopewell) who possesses a gorgeous soul diva’s voice and owns the Motownesque numbers. Composer Ross Brown’s tunes are fabulous and catchy. However, nothing can prepare for the hi-NRG paean to Glaswegian dirt-mall the Savoy
Centre, with McKnight rocking moves a stripper would blanch at. If it throws out the wonderfully acerbic one-liners in the slick first half, the second settles down into a warm, fuzzy show, where children from the audience are selected to stand as the jury at Kringle’s trial. With reassuringly filthy puns, boundless energy and a big heart betraying its sentimentality, there’s something for all the family. (Lorna Irvine)
PIRATE PANTO TREASURE ISLAND Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, until Sun 18 Jan ●●●●● They’re a rum lot. The Pavilion Panto favourites are back with their latest show, a lively adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island. Nailing their deliberately un-PC colours to the mast, it is a technicolour treat for the wee ones, but a little incoherent in terms of its narrative arc.
Peck the Parrot (Johnny Mac) and Ugly Sister Cat Harvey are endearing presences, particularly Mac’s freestyling motormouth segment, which showcases his considerable stand-up chutzpah. Gary Lamont’s blowsy, over-sexed dame Mrs Birdseye, innkeeper in ‘mah Primark bloomers’ provides many ripe chuckles. However, there is more of an emphasis on big pop singalongs than sea shanties, and a lack of strong characterisation dominates the latter scenes. Counterbalancing the leads, James MacKenzie’s Long John Silver and Leah Macrae as Black Dog are too charming to be villainous baddies, in spite of the shared bluster. Surprisingly low on spooky pirate action overall, a little more anarchy would have been a thrilling addition. This island escape is fine for a short stay, even if, on the whole, it feels more like a jukebox musical than the traditional family panto format they usually do so well. (Lorna Irvine)
114 THE LIST 11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015
T O M M Y G A - K E N W A N
SEASONAL ADAPTATION THE BFG Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 3 Jan ●●●●●
Andrew Panton’s behind-the-curtain career has recently found a natural outlet as director of large-scale seasonal shows at the Lyceum which deftly mix a sense of class with lots of fun. Last year’s A Christmas Carol was a deserved hit, and now this take on Roald Dahl’s famous story has done the job again. There’s nothing Christmassy about the tale, bar the
singalong encore, but a sense of magic and wonder pervades everything. Robyn Milne is Sophie, the young orphan girl snatched away from her bedroom by Lewis Howden’s Big Friendly Giant, taken away to live with him forever in case she reveals the secret of the giants to her fellow ‘human beans’.
The set design is excellent, with Becky Minto creating a playful experiment in scale between each act: in the first, the lovably harrumphing Howden appears on stage and Sophie is a small puppet; in the second, the BFG is a huge animated figure appearing alongside Milne.
It looks and feels great, the tone is controlled confidently and humour is plentiful – the signature ‘Mamma Mia’ theme which accompanies the Queen of Sweden draws a knowing laugh from all the adults, while a windy dance of the whizzpoppers (take a guess, those who haven’t read the book) elicits happy guffaws from the kids. (David Pollock)
LUNCHTIME PANTOMIME THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES Òran Mór, Glasgow, until Sat 20 Dec ●●●●●
Day one of Òran Mór’s Christmas panto, and the room is stuffed full, almost to breaking point – such is the love for Dave Anderson, creator of this wee gem. With Anderson, giving good camp in char-lady drag, are his merry sidekicks: Frances Thorburn, George Drennan and Juliet Cadzow. Cadzow excels as the titular pompous emperor in a padded nudie suit, complete with festive dangling appendage. Updating the morality tale for the 21st century, there is the usual winning formula of agit-prop, wonderful wordplay, and utter unabashed filth – after all, where else in Glasgow at lunchtime could there be a spirited chant of ‘We love Boaby’? (Boaby, of course, being the character played by Thorburn). Each actor gets their turn to shine, with Thorburn’s rather lovely tinkly ballad about child poverty and gender conditioning a real highlight – poignant, melancholic and gorgeously sung.
The show skewers Nativity tropes and there's seething satire
bubbling away underneath which takes in Farage, pointless celebrity worship, the immigration debate and of course the 45% who voted yes to an independent Scotland . Needless to say, it all culminates in a somewhat anarchic and silly singalong, with the lyrics to the chorus written on a blind. (Lorna Irvine)
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