CINDERELLA at the Festival Theatre

★★★★

“a spectacular night out with family and friends in a familiar venue hosted by our favourite stars”

If it’s glitz, glamour and banter performed by local talent, Edinburgh’s own Cinderella is the panto you’ve been looking for. The Crossroads Production of this much loved Christmas favourite has something for everyone, whether you’re a glamorous gran or a sleepy babe in arms. There won’t be any time for naps or time outs though, because this is a show where everyone gets involved, thanks to the experienced crowd management talents of Allan Stewart (Faerie May), Grant Stott (Baroness Hibernia Fortuna) and Jordan Young (Buttons).

Panto has long been an Edinburgh tradition, even if familiar names and faces retire from time to time. The traditional venue changes from time to time as well. This year’s production is at the Festival Theatre while the Kings Theatre (affectionately known as the Old Lady of Leven Street) undergoes a face lift. This 2024 Cinderella is heavy on tradition too, with familiar jokes about politics at Holyrood, and the state of play at the Hibernian Football Club down the road in Leith. Towns outside Edinburgh are lovingly mocked, but local scandals are also given brief airings, much to the delight of the crowd. In short, this is Panto as it used to be done, with a hefty tribute to music hall traditions, and its variety show talents. This includes some updated songs with the magnificent voices of Cinderella (Amber Sylvia Edwards) and her Prince (Will Callan).

Fabulous. But what about the plot of Cinderella? All the familiar elements are there, including a bit of backstory about how our heroine came to have a horrible stepmother and two ugly stepsisters. Prince Charming is very charming indeed and not above sneaking out of his palace to meet his love in places less stressful than a huge ball with everyone looking on. In this version, an upwardly mobile and career oriented Cinders aims for a job as Royal Advisor to the Prince. There are a number of similar updates, but this is still recognizably Cinderella. But make no mistake: Edinburgh’s Cinderella belongs to Faerie May (aka The Fairy Godmother). If there’s one weakness to all this updating, it’s that the story of Cinders and her Prince is barely sketched in. But given the number of elaborate costume changes that have to take place, it’s not surprising that Faerie May, the villianous Baroness and the ever cheeky Buttons have the lion’s share of time on stage.

But we’re here for a spectacular night out with family and friends in a familiar venue hosted by our favourite stars. And this Cinderella delivers spectacle in spades. There’s Faerie May’s star spangled descent from the rafters at the beginning of the show, and an eye popping end of the first half involving real ponies and a pumpkin carriage. The even more sparkly grand finale does not disappoint— one could attend this production in full ballgown and tiara and not feel overdressed. But it’s the comic talents of Allan Stewart as Faerie May that keep this show down to earth and accessible to all. Whether it’s putting Cinderella at ease, or dealing with a delightful seven year old girl from the audience upstaging him while his back is turned, Stewart shows that panto experience is key, and age is only a number. Grant Stott as Baroness Hibernia owns the stage with his incredible costumes and an attitude to match. And Jordan Young as Buttons pours such energy into his trademark “Hiya Paaaals” that some local business should probably bottle it and make a fortune. All this, and the show still has a Cinderella (Amber Sylvia Edwards) and a Prince Charming (Will Callan) who manage to hold their own despite all the mayhem going on around them. With supporting players Clare Gray and Gail Watson as the Ugly Sisters, and Iain Stuart Robertson as Baron Hardup, Cinderella has a talented and sympathetic ensemble who know exactly how to play to an Edinburgh crowd.

This Cinderella is a show that knows its community, and plays to it well. So if you’re looking for something unique to Edinburgh and its holiday traditions, this Scottish flavoured panto has plenty to please.

CINDERELLA at the Festival Theatre

Reviewed on 26th November 2024

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Douglas Robertson

More reviews from Dominica:

U-BU-SU-NA | ★★★★★ | THE CORONET THEATRE | November 2024

LYNN FACES | ★★★ | EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE | August 2024

ASSEMBLY HALL | ★★★★★ | EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL | August 2024

THE CROW, (THE PRINCESS), AND THE SCULLERY MAID | ★★ | EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE | August 2024

OEDIPUS REX | ★★★★★ | EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL | August 2024

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO | ★★★★ | EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL | August 2024

NIGAMON/TUNAI | ★★★★ | EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL | August 2024

SUITCASE SHOW | ★★★★★ | EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE | August 2024

KAFKA’S APE | ★★★★★ | EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE | August 2024

INSTRUCTIONS | ★★★ | EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE | August 2024

JULIETA | ★★★★ | EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE | August 2024

GRUPO CORPO | ★★★★★ | EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL | August 2024

Cinderella

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

★★★★★

“a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a performance that is both explosive and meditative”

U-BU-SU-NA translates as “the mystical divine power that protects the land and those who live there.” It’s about as ideal a title as one can find for a production featuring Butoh. The Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill is the venue to find this mesmerizing show, created by Kentaro Kujirai, a leading Butoh master. In U-BU-SU-NA four performers explore what it means to live in contemporary spaces in which suppressed histories are always attempting to emerge. And there is something very appropriate in staging this show in the beautifully restored Coronet Theatre, which still retains features of its old spirit before the restoration. A space where peeling paint and patchwork repairs are a carefully curated design feature.

In sixty brief minutes, Kentaro Kujirai and his company provide a vivid introduction to the form of dance and movement known as Butoh. It was created in the 1940s as a response to the suppression of Japanese culture in the aftermath of the Second World War. But Butoh is influenced not only by Japanese classical dance and theatre, but also German Expressionism, and the ideas of Antonin Artaud, and Jean Genet. It is meant to be paradoxically both disruptive and grotesque, while also seeming meditative, even spiritual, in its effect. Butoh is a form of movement not imposed upon the work, but which emerges from within the body of the dancer to become the work. Butoh—also known as the “dance of utter darkness” (ankoku butoh) is a profound, and also unsettling, exploration of the ways in which modern urban life, built upon ancient shrines, can disrupt connections with the traditional practices of Japanese culture.

U-BU-SU-NA begins in silence and darkness, one dancer on stage. As more dancers emerge, sounds begin to emerge as well. Sound and movement are always at odds with one another. While the performers move in slow motion, the sound track (sound designer FUJI|||||||||||TA and Kota Nakasato) features dripping water, and heightened metallic sounds. Costumes (KMRii, C.R.O.W. design lab) are a curious mix of traditional Japanese costumes in drab colours, or modern dance clothing. Sound and costumes are an effective way to heighten the conflict between Japan’s past and present playing out in the dance. Dancers Kentaro Kujirai, Makoto Sadakata, Izumi Noguchi and Hirohisa Kanamori all present their own distinctive forms of this conflict. This too adds to the overall sense of discontinuous histories, and fractured lives lived in precarious ways upon the shrines of the past. The choreography features fragments of Buddhism, Shintoism, classical Japanese dance, even western ballet, and often at the same time. Western opera makes a brief appearance in the sound track. Kentaro Kujirai’s interpretation of Butoh is boundary breaking as well. At one point, they all gather in a group, seated on the floor, and snatches of conversation ensue. The performance is interrupted when a dancer appears with a broom, sweeping the stage, and sweeping up a resting dancer. Despite all these disruptive moments, the overall effect, paradoxically, is to draw in the audience more deeply. By the end of the show, we discover that it is not just the dancers who have been transformed by Butoh. We leave the space with a heightened awareness not only of the intense physicality of this form, but also the way it places with our perceptions of the movement of time, and of space.

U-BU-SU-NA is a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a performance that is both explosive and meditative. If you are up for the transformative experience of Butoh, and the work of Kentaro Kujirai and his company, do not miss this unique opportunity.

CINDERELLA at the Festival Theatre

★★★★

“a spectacular night out with family and friends in a familiar venue hosted by our favourite stars”

CINDERELLA at the Festival Theatre

Reviewed on 26th November 2024

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Douglas Robertson

More reviews from Dominica:

Cinderella

Cinderella

U-BU-SU-NA at the Coronet Theatre

★★★★★

“a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a performance that is both explosive and meditative”

U-BU-SU-NA at the Coronet Theatre

Reviewed on 14th November 2024

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Bozzo

Previously reviewed at this venue:

U-BU-SU-NA

U-BU-SU-NA

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