PANTO REVIEW

CINDERELLA

OCTAGON, YEOVIL

Do you want to laugh till you cry? Then hit the A37 and get yourself to the Octagon, where panto season has hit in hilarious style.

The brilliant Jack Glanville is back as Buttons in this laugh-a-minute, seamless production, which features an utterly breathtaking finale to its first act, where the glittering carriage is pulled into the air above the audience by a flying horse as the snow falls.

Ugly sisters Matt Daines and Ian Smith are fabulous, and their costumes were so good they prompted a laugh in themselves.

Lizzie Francis is back as the Fairy Godmother, and kept the pace and humour knitted into the story as she narrated between scenes and paid tribute to Julie Walters’ Mrs Overall in her disguise as a little old lady in the woods.

Joanna Sawyer as Cinders was great – she has a super voice and eschewed the usual saccharine panto heroine guise for a believable character. Similarly Ashley Emerson’s Prince Charming was grounded, funny and believable.

Special mention must go to local lad Thomas Ford, who provided plenty of laughs as a distinctly Crewkernian Dandini.

There were no dud moments – what I really enjoy about Yeovil’s annual panto is they employ people not because they’re big stars, but because they provide big laughs. The show gathers the audience in and sends them on a rollicking good journey, where we all bellowed at the characters and sang along with gusto.

Do go along – you’ll have a ball.

Miranda Robertson