REVIEW: Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime at Mayflower Theatre

IT’S CHRISTMASSS! Panto season is back in Southampton with some familiar faces returning from last year. So step aside Palladium, Ashley Banjo and Diversity are taking over Panto season once again.

Mayflower theatre have once again smashed it out of the park with ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Nothing screams pantomimes like big set pieces, extravagant dance breaks (expected with Diversity), and over the top musical numbers. Crossroads Pantomimes have gone all out once again, and you can tell why they’re the best in the business. Pantomimes happen up and down the country each year, but I don’t think many are on the same level as the Mayflowers. Love them or hate them - but you can’t deny how impressive and how much fun ‘Jack’ is. Be prepared for the audience participation, after all it wouldn’t be a pantomime without it would it?

“Oh no it wouldn’t!” (I’m sorry).

I don’t actually think the story is all that important during a pantomime. Sure there needs to be a narrative for the flow of the show, but pantomimes are usually stories everybody would know even if they thought they didn’t. Taking inspiration from musical theatre in this years soundtrack really helped pull everything together. How can we forget about the big cast members as well, ‘The Giant!’. When we were first introduced it was seriously impressive seeing the scale of these things - but just when you thought that it couldn’t get any bigger…    it really does!

Talking big, everything about the show was big. Think big, and then scale it up a little bit more. The cast, the set, the costumes, the music, the dance, the comedy - all amazing! I love how everything tied together to bring us this big spectacle that kept you there literally every step of the way. The theming of the theatre was beautiful - as Elton John says, it was literally like ‘stepping into Christmas’.

When it comes to cast, returning as headline performers this year were Ashley Banjo & Diversity playing the roles of ‘Jack Trot and his Family’. If you’re a fan of Diversity, or even of dance in general, you definitely won’t be disappointed. Their dance definitely lives up to the expectation of the name, and it feels like an honour to see them on a local stage once again. This years panto is very dance heavy, whether that be Diversity or just the ensemble; Both impressive and funny. One thing that really impressed me this year was Ashley and Perry’s comedic timing and role as a comedy duo really. Perry’s interactions with the ‘Spirit of the Beans’ was just hilarious. Talking comedy Segways me perfectly onto the return of Kev Orkian. This again is Kev’s second year back and I cannot tell you how glad I was to see him return. In my eyes, he is the star of the show. Playing ‘Silly Simon’, one of Jack’s brothers, Kev controlled the audience brilliantly, bounced off of every single character fantastically, and basically walked us through the whole pantomime. A true natural comic. Again, Southampton should be very lucky to have him again. I think a special shout out needs to be given to the ensemble as well because at moments, you couldn’t separate them dancing from Diversity. Matt Rixon as ‘Dame Trot’ was brilliant, Jacqueline Hughes’ voice was fantastic (even though I’m still waiting for that famous ‘Wicked - Battle Cry’). Anne Smith was the perfect ‘Bad Guy’, and Lauren Hampton as ‘Princess Jill’ was an amazing allrounder! Bravo to all!

Now let’s talk about the set and lighting. WOW! The set was incredible. As I mentioned earlier, imagine big and then scale it up. It was bright, it was grand, it was exactly what I imagine walking into a fairytale would look like. Can’t get much better than that. Paired with the lighting, which again was bright, colourful and extremely well thought out - they had created theatre magic. To take theatre magic to the extreme, Mayflower and Crossroads Pantomimes paired up with The Twins FX special effects company again, and they never fail to disappoint. The Twins FX effects are phenomenal and for this panto to have not one, not two, but three breathtaking effects (*Spoiler Alert*) in the form of not one, or two, but three giants - as well as the biggest beanstalk you’ve ever seen growing right in front of the audience - it was just breathtaking. The costumes were dazzling and shining, and the use of pyrotechnics elevated the production of the show even further.

When it comes to music, I always say how important a live band actually is. Anthony England and his band have smashed it this year. The music was loud, it was energetic, it was just really impressive. I mentioned earlier that the music took a lot of inspiration from musical theatre, including ‘Into the Woods’, and ‘Joseph’ just to name a couple. I do think that this panto lacked the cheesy effect of using songs in the charts. One thing that pantos always do is break out randomly into a song that is currently in the charts, or a popular song that everybody in the audience will know. This year they only used ‘Bad Guy’ by Billie Eilish but I was really expecting something that had been in popular culture over the last year. I also really thought that they would hone in on the fact that Jacqueline Hughes had played ‘Elphaba’ previously, and with the ‘Wicked’ movie being out there may have been a little fun nod towards that. Missed opportunity potentially?

Overall this pantomime is incredibly impressive. Pantomimes may not be your thing (Scrooge), but I would bet money that you’d be laughing along and leaving Mayflower Theatre ready for Christmas. I don’t think they get much better than this really. The only thing that the show has left me asking is, “Fe Fi Fo Fum - How can I rewatch for more Christmas fun?”. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ is only at Mayflower Theatre until the 5th January - so get booked in now whilst you still can.