Pantomime Beauty in Colchester

Beauty and The Beast: Mercury Theatre

Love them or loath them, you can’t avoid them at this time of year. Yes, I’m talking about Pantomime. Once, when I was very new to Grapevine Magazine, I offered to cover eight Pantos in one season. It was a worthwhile educational experience, as I discovered that no two Panto’s are the same. (Later I would learn that no two performances of the same Panto are the same).

Yes, there are those that go out of their way to not be ‘Pantos’ but prefer the title ‘festive show’. Some spend their annual budget on buying in a big name to attract audiences with little left over for script writers or supporting actors. Some get it just right. My eight-Panto season taught me that we are spoilt for choice in the East of England when it comes to festive entertainment.

I shouldn’t, but I do have a favourite Panto. Not a particular story, but the annual production by the Mercury Theatre in Colchester makes me keep coming back for more year on year.

This year’s production of Beauty and The Beast would see the Roman town of Camulodunum re-located to France and re-named Colchesterre, leaving me with expectations that Asterix the Gaul might turn up. The frequent references to Colchesterre’s spa town of Clactune-sur-Mer, put the seaside town in a brand-new light for me.

Lest you don’t know the story of Beauty and The Beast: boy meets girl, things are going well, wicked witch (sorry, enchantress) curses boy, turns him into an ugly beast, banishes him to live in a castle unloved. Cupid wants to make things better, sends girl to castle to see if they can make it work, adventures are had en-route. All live happily…

Being a love story, it was entirely appropriate, if a little unusual for Panto, to open with Edith Piaf’s ‘La Vie en Rose’ and surreal that Edith got to play a bit part throughout the show.

Having re-located Colchester to France, the dialogue began in French, much to Cupid’s (Sasha Latoya) consternation as she was getting little audience feedback. Just as well she had her magic fairy dust handy to translate the script for us, otherwise we’d have to have had subtitles.

Mercury regulars know that one of the main reasons for attending their Panto is the performances of Dale Superville and Antony Stuart-Hicks. Antony always plays the Dame and Dale the Dame’s son/daughter/sister/cow… whatever the script calls for. This year Antony played Betty Bon Bon, proprietor of the struggling sweet shop and Dale played her son, Almonde, the famous sweetie inventor. Almonde’s blend of sweetie inventions resulted in sweet names such as Nickers and Farties – no better way to get the children sniggering. However it was his enormous water pistol that got those in the first ten rows screaming.

You can always expect ad-libbing with Antony and Dale on stage, and we got it. The rest of the cast must dread the moment when they realise that the pair have gone off script and left them devoid of a cue for their next line. So what if you are doing your best to be the ultra evil, boo-hiss inducing Spite (Jaimie Pruden) when you drop the jar of sweets thrown at you and collapse in a pile of giggles.

In a panto the story is irrelevant. With Antony & Dale on stage, the script can also go out the window. On many occasions, the mayhem, innuendo, jokes you can see coming a mile away and the ad-lib all combine for laugh out loud fun. And in the times we live in, having a good laugh never hurts.

All of the cast played their parts to perfection, or at least laughed heartily and carried on when they couldn’t, through no fault of their own. In a world where little things count, the appearance of Edith attempting to get musical director Monsieur Paul to play ‘er song was a stroke of brilliance as was the twerking performance of the blue and purple uni-donk.

Oh – and the Beauty and The Beast joke of the night was the Sweet Caroline one. Contractually, and for reasons of copyright, I am unable to repeat it here. You will have to book tickets and see the show. Trust me, it’s a cracker!

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