The Scouse Red Riding Hood: Liverpool Royal Court

Writer: Kevin Fearon

Director: Mark Chatterton

Little Red Riding Hood has taken many forms in its long history, some more gruesome than others. Tales of the girl in a cape and the sly old wolf may be varied – but it’s hard to imagine any ever dared to combine Viagra, space travel and the merits of a popular low-cost German supermarket chain…. Of course, you expect the Royal Court Christmas show to play fast and loose with the story – this is panto – even extending to an extraterrestrial encounter with the Scouse in-laws of 1970s TV puppets, The Clangers.

But when it comes to what makes this annual event so popular – irreverent wit, sparkling performances by a talented cast of familiar names and plenty of jokes at the expense of Liverpool’s near-neighbours – they are remarkably faithful to a winning formula.

Deep in the dark forests of Lidlpool, Lindzi Germain’s Grandma is about to lose her house to the wolfish property developers Cash and Carry, played brilliantly by Andrew Scholfield and Keddy Sutton. Scholfield is subtle and delightfully sweary alongside Sutton’s jittery madcap antics, and a quite uncanny Cilla Black impersonation. To the rescue come Lidia Rosa Morales Scully’s Red and Adam McCoy’s Blue, a smart piece of casting which delivers a likeable pair of brave adventurers and a neat solution to the delicate problem of colour balance in a city divided by football rivalry. Needle between the tribes is served with a few chants back and forth with the audience.

Red and Blue are not about to let Grandma’s paradise be turned into a parking lot, which means averting a lunar disaster where people are turned into werewolves by painting the moon black. The requisite equipment and materials for such a quest are found among the bargain bins of the store’s famous middle aisle and all is explained on the lunar surface by Scholfield and Sutton’s comic Scousers.

Germain’s foul-mouthed Grandma threatens to steal the show with her booming put-downs but there are strong performances throughout the cast, including Liam Tobin’s Bob the Builder and Lidia Rosa Morales Scully, who deserves credit after recently making her stage debut at the theatre.

The house band add swagger to the musical numbers with great singing from Chantel Cole as ‘stage manager’ and Emma-Grace Arends. Ellie Light’s simple yet highly effective stage and set adds depth and movement to the show.

The Scouse Red Riding Hood is a singalong rocket ship to the heart of the Scouse cosmos in the capable hands of a warm-hearted, potty-mouthed crew. It soared at times without quite achieving full warp speed with the audience but remains essential festive viewing.