A triumphant Aladdin at The Courtyard - Oh, yes it is! (From Hereford Times)
Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting HT NEWS to 80360 or e-mail us
A triumphant Aladdin at The Courtyard - Oh, yes it is!
5:06pm Monday 29th November 2010 in Reviews
Discover the joy of panto with The Courtyard's production of Aladdin
THE Courtyard’s panto dream team have triumphed again with an outstanding production of Aladdin delivered with enormous energy and skill by a cast who were clearly enjoying the show as much as the audience were.
Anyone who thinks that a panto needs a soap star for success should hotfoot it to The Courtyard and discover the joy of the genre before it was hijacked by children’s tv presenters and slebs. Aladdin is fun from start to finish with a clutch of great performances and a tour de force of a Lady Gaga parody from the company, led by Widow Twankey in not one, but two outrageous frocks, including that most notorious of dresses, the meat creation (rendered here in silk and worn with great aplomb by Tim McArthur in his Hereford panto debut).
All the essential elements are here - the slapstick scene in the laundry raised the roof, sweets were thrown and the obligatory singalong was conducted enthusiastically by the Widow and her fortune-cookie-short-of-a-full-Chinese-meal son, Wishee Washee - with no let-up in the considerable pace it raced along at.
The Courtyard’s Aladdin is panto at its very best - driven by a strong story, with great acting from all the principals (Joseph Davenport as Aladdin, David McMullan as Wishee Washee, Zara Kadir as Princess Mei-Li, Robert Traynor as an imposing Abanazar, Phillip Arran as the Genie and Antony Jenkins as the Emperor), fabulous dance routines - who could resist getting to their feet for a rousing version of YMCA, complete with all the moves - and a script that avoided all the excesses of so many pantos, with writer Lyndsay Maples opting for genuine wit and sly and subtle local jokes over the broader brush strokes of innuendo and exaggerated performance. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, get to the box office fast.
To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or click below to book online.
