★★★
Shakespeare the Panto is a fun romp albeit a little rough around the edges at times. Performed by three actors, each playing multiple and distinctive roles, and with some creative cardboard set dressing involved, the cast are more than comfortable in reminding the audience that the show is low-budget, however at times this feels more of a crutch than it needs to be.
There were a couple of places that could have benefited with a sound cue to retain the magic of panto – for example, there was no soundtrack to the classic ‘behind you’ scene, and Cesario’s dramatic transformation into Viola might be made funnier accompanied by some kind of twinkly sound effect.
The interweaving of different Shakespeare narratives worked really well and the concept in general was brilliant, however there were a few places where this didn’t make as much sense. Puck is usually portrayed as quick-witted and mischievous but their characterisation in this show was quite the opposite; this would be fine if it had been given context, but as it was it felt a bit like a more suitable character might have been Bottom.
The writing was also strong but undermined slightly by a moment between two characters which had been lifted from Austin Powers, which again if it had been framed well could have worked, but instead came across a bit ‘I saw this once and thought it was funny.’
All that said, the show had some great twists (including one involving an audience member), great references, I learned who Robert Green was, the songs were well sung and with funny rewrites to the lyrics, and special mention goes to one actor who joined the cast shortly before the run but blended in seamlessly (and explained why there was no obvious Dame character involved). I did really enjoy this performance but would love to see it again with more development next year.
Shakespeare the Panto was on at The Vault at Paradise in The Vault.
