Writer: Luke Adamson
Director: Kate Bannister
Pantomime is, of course, the backbone of the Christmas theatre schedules. Rather than attempt to mount a full-scale panto (although similar-sized venues have tried, to varying degrees of success), the Jack Studio Theatre instead presents a behind-the-scenes look at two panto dames playing Cinderella’s Ugly Sisters.
Playwright Luke Adamson opens his foreword in the play’s programme with, “I’ve never been particularly good at writing things like this,” which does not bode well. But his play’s structure is sound, as is Karl Swinyard’s set design. Set in a cluttered dressing room, racks of clothes move aside to reveal a projected backdrop, with which we get to see the sisters’ onstage antics in between the backstage bickering.
The time period in which this hour-long piece is set initially appears a bit confusing: the two dames (who, out of costume, we know only by surnames) have a much more old-fashioned, music hall-style panto delivery than is common in modern panto, especially in their first set piece, a fun rendition of Irving Berlin’s Sisters. But a number later in the panto sees the sisters dressed in 90s leisure wear, performing Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy in a piece that both acknowledge is “dated”. Dialogue suggests disparagingly that casting pantos now overlooks an acting pedigree in favour of Love Island alumni – but that’s an observation that has been made for decades. Commercial pantomimes have long relied on at least one or two celebrity names to draw in audiences who then get to see a company of professionals.
Adamson seeks to address many such theatrical issues in his script, using the tensions between Matthew Parker’s Mr Chancery and Bryan Pilkington’s Mr Worth to draw out some of them. Worth is an old-school devotee of the charms of pantomime, whereas Chancery’s “it’s only panto” stance is more sanguine. The bickering between the two has, it’s been implied, gone on for years, although it’s never quite clear what they do in years when there is only one dame role in the panto. There is a reference to Chancery having played the prince in Sleeping Beauty, but otherwise, it is implied these two performers each have a long-standing relationship as a dame in the same company.
Director Kate Bannister ensures some nice touches – for all their differences, there are numerous occasions where the two actors’ movements as they dress are identical, suggesting commonality even when exchanging spiteful barbs. But there are also plenty of moments where the dialogue between the two performers feels leaden and often too on the nose. The characters discuss how the panto in which they are performing is not of the best quality; for such moments to be truly effective, the behinds-the-scene moments need to be more immune from the same accusations.
As an unusual look at the panto tradition, Oh No It Isn’t! does at least get amusing mileage out of the “sad clown” cliché. Both Pilkington and Parker produce well-rounded, likeable characters that both revel in, and elevate, their material. But for all the enjoyable moments, one can never quite shake the feeling that Adamson’s admission in his programme bears more than a smidgen of truth.
Continues until 6 January 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Unusual look at panto
