Tag Archives: Tom Lishman

POTTED PANTO

★★★★★

Wilton’s Music Hall

POTTED PANTO

Wilton’s Music Hall

★★★★★

“This is the only panto you’ll ever need. It’s the festive season in a nutshell.”

If you are a pantomime completist, you can easily knock off a handy six – or is it seven? – in one night at Wilton’s Music Hall and have a fabulous time doing so.

The comic duo of Dan and Jeff bring their quick-fire Potted Panto back to the gorgeously distressed venue cramming in the festive cheer with the pluck and ingenuity of a turkey stuffer faced with a big bag of giblets.

In goes Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Here comes a whistlestop Jack and the Beanstalk and an abbreviated Snow White. The pair – aided and abetted by costume changes, cut corners, puppets and belly laughs – rattle through the traditional canon in a slick and practised 80 minutes, and that includes fast and furious recaps.

Daniel Clarkson and Jeff Turner are good at this. Really good. They’ve been “potting” works since 2005 beginning with Harry Potter (Potted Potter, geddit?) and moving on to pirates and Sherlock Holmes. Potted Panto was first shown at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010 and transferred to the West End where it was Olivier nominated. The show arrived at Wilton’s last year and looks like becoming a regular fixture – with tickets selling fast. This is nothing but good news. It deserves to become an East End tradition.

At times the cheerful conspiratorial exuberance tips over from stage show to party time, with the fourth wall not just broken but blown up. That accounts for the enthusiastic embrace for the “3D” section where everyone joins in a rambunctious carriage chase through a haunted forest.

There’s topical stuff for the adults – Donald Trump, Gregg Wallace – and enough wee-wee and poo gags to have the kids slamming their hands to their mouths in naughty giggles.

Dan Clarkson, the tall one, plays the part of the cheeky troublemaker with puckish glee, while harassed Jeff, the short one, tries to keep the whole show on the road. Co-writer Richard Hurst also directs and manages to co-ordinate chaos to such an effective degree he should run for government.

All this is helped immeasurably by the special magic of Wilton’s. With its echoes of Dickensian Christmases Past, especially with Tiny Tim limping across the stage, the whole place has the cosiness and irrepressible delight of those childhood December nights that were almost too exciting to bear.

Remember, if any other Christmas show offers you just the one storyline, you’ve been short-changed. This is the only panto you’ll ever need.

It’s the festive season in a nutshell.


POTTED PANTO at Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed on 6th December 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Geraint Lewis

 

 

 

 

 

Previous Potted Panto reviews:

POTTED PANTO | ★★★★★ | WILTON’S MUSIC HALL | December 2023
POTTED PANTO | ★★★★★ | APOLLO THEATRE | December 2022

POTTED PANTO

POTTED PANTO

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

 

THREE MEN IN A BOAT

★★★

The Mill at Sonning

THREE MEN IN A BOAT at The Mill at Sonning

★★★

“It won’t rock the boat too much as it drifts along on its stream of witty dialogue pleasantly enough”

Published in 1889, Jerome K. Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat” was initially intended to be a serious travel guide, with snippets of local history thrown in. But unwittingly, the author’s natural flair for comedy took over the narrative and Jerome found himself with an instant best seller on his hands. Since then, it has never been out of print and, even if not everybody has read it, most people are familiar with its title. It is simultaneously dated yet, quite rightly, resists being placed in a contemporary context. Instead, his style and influence can be seen in modern-day equivalents such as Bill Bryson, or more specifically Pete McCarthy. And even Tim Dowling owes his self-deprecating gift for focusing on the commonplace in part to Jerome.

Nothing much happens at all in “Three Men in a Boat”. That is much of its beauty, so to translate that onto the stage is going to be a tall order. Clive Francis’ adaptation moves it forward in time to the eve of World War I, although we only get a glimpse of this representation – albeit a powerful one – towards the end. The preceding couple of hours is a faithful reproduction of the book which doesn’t always translate into a particularly interesting piece of theatre.

 

 

We meet the characters: Jerome (George Watkins), his banker chum George (James Bradshaw) and the eccentric Harris (Sean Rigby) discussing their various, real and imagined ailments; the three actors quickly and neatly establishing the personalities of the odd trio. While none of them can decide quite what they are suffering from, they all agree that it has been brought on by overwork. A change of scene is what is needed. Sean Cavanagh’s authentically detailed set provides this by cleverly opening up from its Edwardian Kensington apartment into a nostalgic backdrop of the Thames riverbank. The three friends then cram themselves into a boat that is far too small for comfort (especially for the week-long cruise they are embarking on). It’s a good job their canine companion is imagined – its presence represented by sound alone.

We also meet some interesting and colourful characters along the way (lockkeepers, country-bumpkins, pub-locals, boastful fishermen), all played in turn by the three men in the boat. The technique allows for touches of farcical humour, and thanks to the performers’ versatility and swift shapeshifting, we are never confused. Director Joe Harmston relies on the device too much, however, diluting the dramatic impact. The narrative works best when the three men are just being themselves, and we are afforded personal access to their close-knit camaraderie. Yes, tempers occasionally fray but Watkins, Bradshaw and Rigby never let us forget the deep-rooted sense of loyalty and companionship that true friendship offers. The second act strongly reinforces that underlying message.

“To friendship and loyalty” they toast in the final moments. The tone shifts into a minor key as the hum of warplanes drifts from the horizon. It is a fleeting and poignant footnote. But overall, “Three Men in a Boat” is as comforting as a gently meandering tributary. It won’t rock the boat too much as it drifts along on its stream of witty dialogue pleasantly enough. Some of us might need something more challenging, but we all need every now and then the refreshing and easy-going escapism that this show has to offer. And the Mill at Sonning is the perfect setting for it. As Jerome K. Jerome writes in the book; ‘… it is the most fairy-like little nook on the whole river… more like a stage village’. You won’t be swept away, but it’s definitely worth getting on board.

 


THREE MEN IN A BOAT at The Mill at Sonning

Reviewed on 15th June 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Andreas Lambis

 

 


 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

CALENDAR GIRLS | ★★★★ | April 2024
HIGH SOCIETY | ★★★★ | December 2023
IT’S HER TURN NOW | ★★★ | October 2023
GYPSY | ★★★★★ | June 2023
TOP HAT | ★★★★ | November 2022
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK | ★★★★ | July 2022

THREE MEN IN A BOAT

THREE MEN IN A BOAT

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page