Writer: Jonathan Harvey
Director: Cal McCrystal
We may be heading towards the end of February but panto season is far from over at Wolverhampton Grand as Mother Goose flies in as part of a national tour – and what a delight it is.
Mother Goose is that rare thing, a panto where the Dame is the main protagonist. It’s not one of the shows that crops up like clockwork every Christmas either, so for the majority of theatre-goers the story will be unfamiliar too. And how often do you get to see a panto set in a department store?
Caroline Goose runs an animal sanctuary with her husband Vic. She can’t resist taking in every stray she comes across – so much so that they’ve had to take over an old Debenhams to house them all. They’re happy but the cost of feeding all the animals is driving them to poverty. They can’t pay their energy bills and are about to be evicted. Then out of the blue a goose named Cilla arrives – one more mouth to feed or their saviour? When they discover that Cilla lays golden eggs, it seems that all their troubles are over – until temptation comes knocking. Will Caroline Goose sell her soul and sacrifice her new friend for the sake of fame, or will she resist?
We have a stellar cast on stage here – not a cast overflowing with big names but a handful of people at the top of their game alongside a team of very talented supporting actors. Playing the title role is internationally famous star Ian McKellen, a man who it seems can turn his hand to any role you give him – and he’s as wonderful as Caroline Goose as you would expect from an actor of his calibre. Opposite him is the wickedly funny John Bishop, a piece of inspired casting alongside McKellen. This is a double act well worth seeing. Then we have the magnificently multi-talented Anna-Jane Casey as Cilla the goose. Casey is a joy to watch on stage, at one point leading a troupe of tap-dancing animals and centre stage for a big chorus song and dance number from A Chorus Line, then stopping the show with a belting performance of Don’t Rain on My Parade.
A panto wouldn’t be a panto without a love story, so we have Caroline and Vic’s son Jack (Oscar Conlon-Morrey), gauche and not overly bright (and who takes the messy scene very literally), falling in love with the woman from the energy company Jill (Simbi Akande), a woman who proves that the sky’s literally the limit if you aim to improve your career. We have the traditional good and bad fairies (Sharon Ballard and Karen Mavundukure) vying to show us who’s got the bigger voice during their numbers, and a nicely theatrical King of Gooseland played by Adam Brown.
Then there’s the ensemble, here not just a group of backing dancers but each a character in their own right. Whether it’s Richard Leeming’s Bat who shares too much information, Genevieve Nichole’s Puss in Boots who’s wandered into the wrong panto, Mairi Barclay’s Glaswegian Monkey or any of the several others, they all bring something to the story. Top it off with a superb script by Jonathan Harvey, full of wonderful humour and moments of pathos, and not shying away from making some very political points about the current UK government and some of their policies along the way.
It’s a theatrical treat, a panto with all the traditional elements but put together in a way you won’t have seen in the usual Christmas shows. Pantos like this don’t come along very often. Don’t miss your chance to see this inspired production as it tours the country this spring.
Runs until: 26 February 2023 and on tour
