Broken Legs Blog

I will preface this review by saying “I am not a panto person”. Having said that, this was a very enjoyable evening at the theatre, and the cast all played their roles perfectly, with lots of laughs along the way. The panto stars Shane Richie in the title role, so there were lots of nods to his role on Eastenders, and also references to his two BAFTAs and awards for Sexiest Male.

The other “big name” is Dr Ranj, who had apparently been on Strictly at some point, which gave a good excuse for a dance-off between him and Richie. This was fun, with Dr Ranj performing “proper” dances and Richie performing the more comedic routines, although felt a little dated at Gangnam Style was wheeled out yet again. The song is over ten years old now – do any kids even know what Gangnam Style is?

The panto follows your familiar panto-formula (not a bad thing), with the villain being introduced in the opening scene, delivering the standard “evil monologue” which was received by the customary boos. This year, Anne Smith took on the villainous role of Queen Rat, along with the huge King Rat that filled the entire stage, although was never seen again after the opening.

The plot of the pantomime is paper thin and even the slightest bit of analysis will cause it to collapse. For some reason, the Mayor’s chain is kept locked in a sweet shop. For some reason, everyone is on a ship at the start of act two. For some reason, Dr Ranj keeps showing up (what character did he play? I have no idea).

Iain Stuart Robertson takes on the dame role of Sarah the cook and Emily Beth Harrington stars as Sarah’s daughter Alice, the love interest of Shane Richie despite clearly being about 30 years younger than him. Both are continually overshadowed by Richie, although Harrington gets to save the day in a final swordfight against the rats, in what felt like a proper punch-the-air moment.

Thankfully, what the play lacks in plot, it more than makes up for in its jokes. One particularly memorable scene saw a group of chorus dancers with wooden spoons dangling between their legs, which they then used to play out a tune on saucepans tied around their waists (funnier than it sounds, it’s hard to describe). The “Shipwrecked” song was also very funny, giving Dr Ranj opportunity to lob rubber rings into the audience, and Richie to continually hit the same woman in the front row with a water gun.

Overall this was a very fun night at the theatre. The Theatre Royal Pantomime never pushes the boundaries of what panto should be – it always plays it safe, although at least this means you can guarantee that you’ll have a good time, even if what you see is not going to particularly blow your mind. And we were even lucky enough to a get a shout out from Shane Richie!

Tom Morley, January 2024