★★★★

“the performers put on an impressive show without a moment’s rest”

As the festive season approaches, the time of pantomime comes without holding back. In this production co created by Jermyn Street Theatre and Charles Court Opera, who will be celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2025, we leave all worries (and historical accuracy) outside the entrance doors and enjoy an evening of hilarious covers of popular tunes, disguises and pastries.

In this intimate space, the ensemble bursts with energy and comedic genius as they add a twist in the famous rivalry between the English and the French during Napoleon’s attempt to conquer Europe. On the one side, there is King George (Elliot Broadfoot), the Duke of Wellington (Jennie Jacobs) and Princess Georgina (Amy J Payne) who is disguised as a private in order to fulfil her wish of ending the war. On the other side, there is the infamous Napoleon (Matthew Kellett), standing as tall as he can and savouring the audience’s boos, with Marie Antoinette as his resurrected companion. A legend goes around which says that if one obtains a precious stone in the King’s vault, this person will become undefeated and the only way to open the vault is to use Horatio Nelson’s hand, which Napoleon possesses. Determined to win the war, the English royal party embark on a ship and off they go to destroy Napoleon once and for all.

From Lady Gaga and ABBA to Elton John and Bonnie Tyler, the performers put on an impressive show without a moment’s rest. Merry Holden’s choreography is a fascinating mixture of 80s pop culture and melodramatic inspired moves, performed with perfect synchronisation and gusto. The performers’ voices are highly skilled but also used to heighten the humorous merriment of the piece, with David Eaton’s musical direction subtly, though solidly, accompanying the actors.

There is a clear simulation of a stand up comedy show in the way the sound effects and cheesy punch lines are delivered. At times, not even the actors’ acknowledgement is enough to make the script feel less ridiculous and it is impossible not to roll one’s eyes at the overused jokes and puns. But the actors’ commitment is ardent and the audience is more than happy to sing along, even participate in the games involved onstage. Costumes, (Lucy Fowler) are flamboyant, complimenting marvellously the royal theme and over-the-top tone and Ben Pickersgill’s lighting design does exactly the same by using bright shades of primary colours, as well as sharp spotlights.

Following their previous successful collaboration, last year’s Odyssey: A Heroic Pantomime, it’s safe to say that the electrifying creative chemistry Jermyn Street Theatre and Charles Court Opera delivers what it promises, always finding interesting ways to use well-known stories in an entertaining and inventive fashion. The sparkling direction from Benji Sperring and John Savournin (who also co-wrote the show with David Eaton) lifts the experience to another level. It’s an evening full of musical mischief, baguettes and hearty laughter. This production reminds us why the tradition of pantomimes is such a big part of the festive season, offering entertainment and a sense of release open-handedly to the audience, but also reminding us that life can be ridiculous and wacky, sometimes in the best possible way.

EURYDICE at Jermyn Street Theatre

★★

“Occasionally it feels as though the actors, lost in their own underworld, are making it up as they go along”

“Orpheus was beginning to get very tired of sitting by his girlfriend on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice he had peeped into the book she was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Orpheus, ‘without pictures or conversation?’

Apart from the name changes, the opening line of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ would slot neatly into the stage directions of Sarah Ruhl’s reimagining of “Eurydice”. There is an almost childlike absurdism to the language. A kind of existential nonsense.

Eurydice and Orpheus are at the seaside: a couple of awkward teenagers, looking at life in different ways, but not really looking at each other. She is into her books; he just cares for his music. A bit of an odd couple. They don’t come across as being madly in love with each other at all, so when Orpheus pops the question, it feels like another game.

Meanwhile, Eurydice’s dead father is preparing his wedding speech. He obviously can’t attend the wedding, so he drops the letter down to earth, only for it to be picked up by the bowler-hatted, interesting yet sinister Lord of the Underworld. He picks up the letter, then promptly picks up Eurydice as she escapes her wedding party for a breath of fresh air. Eurydice follows him to his high-rise apartment where things get a bit uncomfortable. Tragedy strikes, and while Eurydice trips on the stairs to her death, the show itself plunges further into a rabbit hole of surrealism.

Ruhl’s intention is to take the focus away from Orpheus and to tell the story through Eurydice’s perspective. She certainly gives her more stage time, but we remain somewhat confused as to whom we should be paying attention to. Eve Ponsonby reliably portrays Eurydice as a woman stuck between two different worlds, but the audience are lodged between differing viewpoints. She has crossed the River Lethe in the Underworld thereby forgetting her earthly existence, even her husband’s name. Her journey of love, loss and grief (although without the memory – what is there to grieve?) is one that she must take on her own, yet we cannot escape the prominence of the men. Especially her father, played with conviction by Dickon Tyrrell. Keaton Guimarães-Tolley’s Orpheus is less secure and lacking passion. Joe Wiltshire Smith, as the Lord of the Underworld, has the most fun. Described as a nasty, interesting man, he is by far the most interesting character onstage. Not so much nasty as sinisterly bonkers. A warped Jimmy Clitheroe through the looking glass.

The narrative is underscored with interjections from the ‘stones’, played with a Pythonesque inanity by Katy Brittain, Tom Morley and Leyon Stolz-Hunter. Bizarrely dressed like creepy nuns, they are not so much a chorus but an echoing backing vocal. The timing of their delivery is often out of kilter, lending further banality to their presence – which we had already begun to question.

Director Stella Powell-Jones bravely takes on all the idiosyncrasies of the script but, even at under an hour and a half, the story still drags – weighed down further by its inconsistencies. Occasionally it feels as though the actors, lost in their own underworld, are making it up as they go along. We do wonder what world Ruhl is creating, and while we admire the ideas that shape her interpretation of “Eurydice”, we are not truly inspired to dig deeper. Curiouser and curiouser we aren’t.

NAPOLEON: UN PETIT PANTOMIME at Jermyn Street Theatre

★★★★

“the performers put on an impressive show without a moment’s rest”

NAPOLEON: UN PETIT PANTOMIME at Jermyn Street Theatre

Reviewed on 26th November 2024

by Stephanie Christodoulidou

Photography by Alex Brenner

Previously reviewed at this venue:

NAPOLEON: UN PETIT PANTOMIME

NAPOLEON: UN PETIT PANTOMIME

EURYDICE at Jermyn Street Theatre

★★

“Occasionally it feels as though the actors, lost in their own underworld, are making it up as they go along”