LondonPantomimeReview

Cinderella – Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London

Adam Stevenson

Writer: Vikki Stone

Director: Tonderai Munyevu

The Lyric Theatre presents Cinderella as its pantomime this year, bringing the action to the Kingdom of Hammersmith and celebrating the joys of that most fairytale of locations, Shepherd’s Bush Market.

Cinderella not only has to perform chores for her odious family, she has a side-hustle where she sells clothes for rodents at her own stall. There she meets Prince Harry, who is in a cunning disguise because he’s a magnet for tabloid scandal. When he hosts a party to meet the young stall-holder again, will Cinderella be able to attend? Will there be shenanigans? Will they reach a happy ending?

Tilly La Belle Yengo’s Cinderella is introduced through a Pulp song and proceeds to be more mischievous than other Cinderellas. She’s happy to ruin the smoothies of her Sloaney stepsisters and stand up to her evil stepmother. She’s also sweet, optimistic and very loveable. An audience will easily grant her a few magic wishes to help her reach her goals. She’s paired with Damien James’s Prince, who’s trapped by his royal position and the ever present fear of paparazzi. He’s not quite Prince Charming, but he is Prince Adorkable, and that’s good enough. He also has a good set of pipes, which help with his wooing.

With a blonde Margaret Thatcher wig and dark bushy beard, Emmanuel Akwafo’s Lady Jelly-Bottom is a very striking dame, yet he’s oddly subdued. His voice less shrill then other dames, there are times where he mutters his jokes, making them hard to hear. Lady Jelly-Bottom is the primary antagonist but is never very menacing or easy to hate and he has to prompt the booing a number of times. There isn’t that frisson of ‘what’s she going to do next’ when Lady Jelly-Bottom comes on stage, no feeling of dangerous unpredictability. What’s more, the costumes, within the realm of panto-dame, are not particularly flashy or outrageous – with the exception of a particularly fetching Dachshund dressing gown.

Jamie N Edams must have had an easy time learning his lines as Gerbil, Cinderella’s rodent chum, as most of them are ‘meep’. He must be running on his wheel for much of the show though, as his appearances are sporadic. The ensemble is small with only three members, but Jerome Lincoln stands out, with a range of facial expressions and eye-brow wiggles that pull the audience in his direction. He particularly has a lot of fun reading out the birthday notices.

Cinderella features much of the expected pantomime ‘stuff’, the villains enter and exit from the left and are booed, a scene exists solely so the audience can tell the characters that ghosts are behind them and the market place features a strangely tall pantomime cow. Yet the topical references are light, there’s a dig at Penny Mordaunt and her sword, a mention of the tv show The Traitors and a particularly egregious/enjoyable pun about RAAC concrete. However, the pantomime never grows close to anarchy, there isn’t a sense that the cast are throwing ad-libs in or trying to make each other corpse. Even the use of puns and double-entendres is fairly infrequent.

There are two moments when audience members come on the stage. One, featuring children who are asked questions to prompt an “aww” from the audience and another featuring a male member of the audience taking part in a game show around eggs. The supposed element of danger involves the possibility of cracking a raw egg on Lady Jelly-Bottom’s bottom but it’s clear from the non-wipe clean material of the costume that the egg is never going to be the raw one. Cinderella is a pantomime that lacks mess.

It is, however a pantomime with a big heart. It may not deliver the chaotic potential of a pantomime but it does send its audience out with a smile, having delivered an experience as sweet and warm as a hot chocolate.

Runs until 6 January 2024.

The Reviews Hub Score

Warm and sweet but lacking anarchy

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One Comment

  1. Unless you were being ironic, it seems that you didn’t realise that Damien James (Jamie N Edams) played both the Prince and the Gerbil.
    No idea why the programme listed them as separate entities. Does a real disservice to an actor working really hard in both roles!

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