ACT Reviews 2022-2023 Season

a tight leash to reign this in. This script was cleverly written by Steven Oliver-Grant, who obviously has a talent for writing this kind of genre. He used the familiar story of a widow down on her luck that has to sell the family cow for beans. There was the slap stick kitchen scene, the prat falls, and the resolution of a happy ending but it is down to the actors to bring the words to life. The Hairy Fairy, Daniel Cope was super, constantly opening a can of lager and gradually becoming more and more inebriated as the panto continued. He was the total antithesis of the good fairy we all know. Seemingly not giving a …., well you finish the saying. Opposite him was Jem Marshall-Ayre, (Miss Phyliss referred to as Syph) the evil witch of the piece. We booed and hissed at her all the way through while she weaved her spell, throwing in the ad libs to people in the audience and offering her services to any gender that took her fancy. We had the inclusion of royalty, Queen Bean (Kimberley Ross) and Princess Jelly Bean (Alannah Foster). Both sang, danced and helped give structure to the script. There was also a plethora of supporting cast of ensemble and dancers that joined in the fun. The central characters came (feels strange using that word) from the Wanky family. I say, Jake Ridgeway (Jack) has grown since I last saw him. This was a well matched part for this actor. He was quite at ease playing a character that is confident and cock-sure of himself. He strutted around the stage as our hero and was expressive. The shorts that he wore fit where they touched, our Jack was indeed a big boy. All he needed to do was include a thigh slap to have me in seventh heaven. Andrew Grogran, as Jack’s brother Jerk was a hoot. He was so fabulously OTT in the camp department and totally outrageous. He had the audience laughing from his very first entrance, oh…er…matron! Any panto, is judged on the quality of the dame and Tony Scott George was superb. He brought energy to the stage and worked his socks off. There was a lot of audience engagement, repartee and saucy innuendo as well as direct expletives. He brought a lot of physical action to stage that