Book: John Savournin
Music and Lyrics: David Eaton
Director: John Savournin
Of all the European fairy tales collected by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, Christmas family shows tend to stick a select few to turn into pantomimes, chamfering off the more grotesque elements to turn them into raucous pantomimes.
Charles Court Opera, a company never afraid to plough its own furrow, has this year chosen the story of Rumpelstiltskin. Or rather, they have created a sequel, for the original tale – in which the goblin allows a miller’s daughter to spin straw into gold and marry the king in exchange for her firstborn, the exchange only being broken when the now-queen says his name aloud – is dispensed with in the first song.
After that, director John Savournin’s script theorises, Philip Lee’s Rumpelstiltskin finds all his bargains banjaxed as news of his real name spreads throughout the kingdom. And so the goblin makes his own bargain with a higher power (Emily Cairns’s Dreamcatcher) to persuade everybody to forget his name. But the Dreamcatcher has plans to remove all magic from the kingdom, and Rumpelstiltskin’s own powers have been lost with his name.
And so begins a journey through various panto-based stories, from Jack and the Beanstalk to Aladdin, Peter Pan and Dick Whittington. And yet, for the first act, this does not feel like the sort of pantomime we typically see. Savournin and Eaton’s script is laden with comedy moments, including Tamoy Phipps’s Cow (the one which Jack callously exchanged for a handful of magic beans), who gleefully sprays the audiences from her udder. But there is a sense of narrative drive and musical quality that many more traditional pantos lack.
Instead, the emphasis is on the magic of storytelling, a theme that is reinforced by Alex Berry’s wooden-panelled library set that reveals hidden secrets. As Rumpelstiltskin progresses in his quest to find the Dreamcatcher and reclaim his magic, he encounters a variety of renowned characters, all played by Cairns, Phipps and Lucy Whitney.
As his journey continues into the second act, the sillier, more fun aspects of panto begin to emerge, from satirical sideswipes at both London and UK politics to audience participation games. By saving that sort of tonal shift until after the interval, Rumpelstiltskin risks unbalancing the whole piece, but the commitment from all four performers helps to counteract this, instead ensuring that the sillier pace maintains interest to the end.
Composer Eaton constructs a number of songs with very modern arrangement styles, and his sound design duties also allow him to introduce samples from the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Bart Simpson to great comedic effect.
And while Savournin’s script contains plenty of innuendos for the grown-up members of the audience to appreciate, they sail completely over the heads of the youngsters in the audience to create a fun, irreverent experience that would be a great part of any family’s Christmas.
Continues until 14 January 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Irreverent fun
