ALL AND Sundry’s Aladdin had everything a great pantomime should have to firmly foster the festive spirit – wonderful one-liners, the odd visual gag here and there, ingenious innuendo and plenty of audience participation.
And it was excellently delivered by a highly talented cast – from the opening number by the chorus to the finale, the performance was near perfect.
You can always judge a good baddie by the amount of boos generated and Ed Loboda was amazing as Abanazer. He was evil personified and the way he goaded the audience to spark a reaction was incredible.
Another important ingredient in a great panto is a daring and dazzling dame and Mark Clayton certainly rose to the challenge there portraying probably the most famous of them all – Widow Twankey.
The comedy timing and chemistry between him and Emma Hay as Wishee Washee was faultless. He also had the audience in the palm of his hand and with him all the way.
The visual gags in the laundry with the pair and policemen Ping and Pong gave the show some superb slapstick.
And as with every All and Sundry panto, the choreography and music was second to none.
Among the pick of the songs were Tanith Parkes’ solo as Princess Jasmine and the sweet and humorous duet between her and Dave Berrisford as Aladdin.
But, the best scenes in the whole production, were the one at the end of act one.
The dragon dance, with the use of UV light, was simply stunning and it was then it was taken to a new level when Aladdin rose high above the audience on a small suspended stage. His suit glimmering white, light shining upon him and fluorescent butterflies fluttering by below him, led to an joint intake of breath from the capacity crowd and sent them into the interval buzzing.
No pantomime would be complete without camp comedy and James Ralley as The Genie was king of camp. During his performance in the first half, it would have been a physically impossibility to fit any more innuendo into his part.
Well done to director Alison Berrisford and her team behind the scenes for putting together another fantastic festive extravaganza at Artrix which, from small beginnings, has blossomed into the first thing many people must pencil into their new diaries when they open them at the start of January.
It left myself and others leaving the auditorium who have regularly seen the show each Yuletide already wondering what the group will be bringing us in 2015.
