FEATURE LIST
PANTO A-Z
1+ 16. & 1‘)l)ee. lilam.1.~l5pm& 7.3l1pm. 111. l7. 2“. 21.2.3 Dec. 2.3l1pmét 7.3l1pm. S. l2. 13 Dec. ll1am & 1.45pm. 211 Dec 1.45 ck ".3llpin; 22 Dec. 1.45pm. ck 24 .l)cc 2.3(1pm. Weekday mornings and alternoons £2.Sllll;l..\‘11); 1-,\ enings and weekends L3.(rl1(£2..\'l1).()neottyyo pantos troin the indefatigable Borderline thisycar. this one is set on the highseas and incorporates loycly ladies the Alexander Slslc‘l‘s. See l’l‘ey ieyy.
IThe Lunchpack ofBoab 'n‘Tam Nelherboyy Arts (cutie. ~13 l ligh Street. lidinburgh.1131 550115"). '1 tie 211 Sat 31 December. ".311pni. also 3pm on 2o. 27. 31 Dec. Nopcll 2.5 Dec. {3.511(L25l11.’lihc ()ld low it 'l'healrc. a relatiyely neyy group ol local people and prolessionals. in their latest shoyy. \\ hich has 111 common \\ ith their earlier ones. a delinite local llayour. 'l’his ( 'hristmas comedy takes in funny business in high places like the ( ~ily (illtllllllcls and SI (illc‘s' bell-loyy c‘l'.
IThe Magic Snowball
(’rayy turd 'l'healie. .lordanhill (‘ollege ol' liducation. Southbrae l)ri\ e. (ilasgow. 114] <154oonntk 'l’ickeit‘entre. ('andleriggs. (141 227 5511. l'ntilSat7 January . 2pm ck 7.3llpm eyery day except 24 ck 31 Dec lllarn ck 2pm; \o perls 25.21» Decry 1.2.lan. 1.2.511 {4.5”dependingon day and concessions please check with box office. Wildcat rey i\ e last year's successful ( ‘ltl'islmas shim \\ hich combines traditional panto elements u ith a bit ol political bile presumany on the principle ot get 'em while they 're young. last year. ex en the tiniest in the audience didn‘t seem to need much priming they all guessed pretty quickly \y hich \\ cll-knoyy n political figures the Wicked Witch ol the South and her \llttitillllL‘ henchman. Malcolm Roughkind. tnosl l‘csclltblcll. Here the \Vtckcd Witch liiis made [he North so cold it \Hlll‘l c‘y ell show at Christmas. so the lyyins llelyy ixl and llclyy ccn. together \\ illl .‘t sll‘c‘c‘lyyise L‘ul called Heats and a Magic Snoyy hall. set off to teach her a lesson. Sharp. pacey and ltinnystull. I MrBones 'I'hird liye Centre. 3511Sauchiehall Street. (ilasgouJHl 332 7521.1-ri lol)ecember. 2.3(1pm. .‘ylr Bones and his one-man band. I MrBoom
Paisley Arts (‘entre. New Street. Paisley. (1-11 887 111111. Sat 111 December. 1.3llpm. £1 .5ll(75p). An opportunity to sing-a-long-a-Mr-Boom for small
children.
I MotherGoose
King's'l'heatre. 2 l.c\‘en Street. Iidinburgh.l13l 22‘) 12(11 'l‘ueb December-Sat IS February. Mon Sat 7pm. Weeks beginning :(1l)L‘C LE; 2 Jan. every Sat ck Wed. & Dec 22. 23. 24. Feb 1. 3. & (i. also 2. 15pm. No pert Dec 25. Jan 1. £4.75~»£h.75 (£2.75 £3.75). The wonderful Walter ('arr stars in this year's glittering panto. along with (iregory l’isher. Peter Morrison and Juliet ('admw See Preview.
I MotherGoose
Mitchell Theatre. (iranyille Street. (ilasgow.'l‘icketslMl 221 31%‘& (141 227 5511. Mon 5—Sat 111 December. 7.3l1pm. Sat matinee 2.3(1pm. £3l£21.'l‘he Pantheon Players in their traditional panto -- choosing this year perhaps the most famous panto of all times.
I Oklahoma!
Playhouse Theatre. 18—22 (ireenside Place. Edinburgh. (131 557 2590(group bookingsl13l 557 (15411). Tue 20 December—Sat 7 January. 7.3(1pm. Wed 6 Sat mats 2.3(1pm. No evg pcrfs 34 3; 31 Dec. £4.5(1—£8.5(1 (cones £2 off). Cowboys and cowgirls and ‘Oh What A Beautiful Morning!‘ in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical classic.
IThe Other Cinderella
Adam House Theatre. Chambers Street. Edinburgh. Ticketsll3l 22R 1 155.
.lulicl ( 'ad/oyy takesont
SPECIAL SIDE EFFECTS
‘Sometimes it could get to feel a little like a life sentence', remarks Juliet Cadzow, as she looks warily around her shoebox of a dressing room, painted a particularin depressing shade of brown. She starts serving time as the wicked witch Dragonara in Mother Goose at the Kings Theatre, Edinburgh in a few days. ‘So this is home for the next three months‘.
Panto performers are potential victims ofwhat might be called the Reverse Advent Calendar Effect, a nervous disorder in which lestive excitement swells to its peak on first night and thereafter testers into a sore throat, make-up on your pillow and insanity around the corner, with a merciful end somewhere far off in the New Year. ‘You feel pretty stupid with glitter still all overyourlace in the middle of February,‘ she adds ruelully.
However, working with skilled variety performers like Walter Carr and Gregor Fisher, perennial lynch-pins of the Scottish panto, obviously restores a sense of faith in its professional worth. ‘There‘s something very exciting about panto — hearing the band start up, the crowd out front. . . and getting capacity audiences 01 course.‘ She sees the latter- and yes, they keep on coming right into February—as largely to do with the popular strength of Scotland's variety tradition.
Last seen as an experimental Lady Macbeth on lncholm island during the Festival, Cadzow seems to be taking on a Thatcherite Dragonara with equal commitment and just a little schoolgirl excitement. ‘l‘m trying to get flashing eyes by sticking sequins on my eyelids
and coating my face in aluminium-based paint, so perhaps
he inantleol Dragonara.
Altzheimer‘s disease is on its way — just a little side effect of the pantomime season!‘ In addition, just as she was getting into practice lorthe onstage wriggle out of a gigantic costume through a trapdoor, she decided to get married— ‘haven't had time lorthe honeymoon yet.‘ Just another little side effect. (Simon Bayly)
Mother Goose at Kings Theatre, Edinburgh. See A-Z.
ALL WASHED UP
The Alexander technique of pantomime? ‘Gel on stage without a hangover‘. Not that easy if you‘ve often got a performance at 10.00am, which is something Carolyn Bonnyman, one half of the nearly world-famous Alexander Sisters, was just finding out when I spoke to her after the first night of Borderline‘s nautical caper, Lucy and The Christmas Treasure. Graduates of RSAMD, the ‘sisters‘ have finally made itthrough to the big time to which all drama students secretly aspire: perpetrating ‘rib-tickling,
rollocking, rumbustious, uproarious fun‘ on paying families whilstwearing snazzy costumes and substantial quantities of padding. ‘We‘re going back to what we did in the first place‘, she whispers.
Temporarily laying aside the Alexander mantle, Bonnyman and co-Sister Lynn Ferguson are appearing respectively as ‘Suzie the Single Fish‘, a magical mermaid, and ‘Granny Green', an immense OAP held hostage by the psychotic Captain Culless. What‘s it like to tackle a challenging modern panto role such as Suzie? ‘Oh, it‘s great. I‘m wearing this wonderful dress with a big tail which I can walk in —you know, big clamshells, big tits— it's the first glamourous costume I‘ve ever had in my life.‘ The matinee looms ever nearer out of the gloomy wasteland ol the morning's headache. (Simon Bayly)
Lucy and the Christmas Treasure, Borderline Theatre Company at Magnum Theatre. Irvine. See A—Z.
WARTS AND ALL
Despite sullering from withdrawal symptoms due to a deficiency of singing and dancing, Ralph Riach has somehow managed to avoid both in Jack and the Beanstalk, this year‘s King‘s Theatre panto in Glasgow. Ralph was most recently seen as a cranky ghost doing a nifty two-step with some chairs in John MacKay‘s hilarious Dead Dad Dog, premiered at the Traverse earlier this year. Very well received in Scotland, the play met with a strangely schizoid but predictable press response when it transferred to the Royal Court in London—which may be just what Scottish Television needs to give the green light to plans for serializing the show in the New Year.
Currently playing alongside hard-core panto veterans Una McLean and Jimmy Logan, he is doubling up as the Chamberlain —whose most dramatic turn is ‘to take the bicycle off' — and in the slightly more demanding role of Brenda Blunderbore, the Giant‘s grotesque wife. Several years of panto dame experience has enabled Ralph to perfect his stage wart make-up technique; originally a hardened devotee of the Rice Crispies 'n' Copydex method, he has found that plain, simple Copydex is more that sufficient if rolled into grimy little balls between the fingers- ‘not a pretty sight‘, though Rice Crispies are presumably a lot tastier.
Isn‘t the prospect of 12 weeks of Brenda as staple diet, sometimes twice daily, just a little hard to stomach? ‘Not really— it gets to be like a built-in clock aftera while that automatically gears you up for the performances. The biggest bind is that with two roles I have to make up fourtimes a day.‘ His other biggest bind is avoiding ‘the company cold‘, that violently contagious sickness. vital to any successful Christmas show, which throttles vocal chords with superbly bad timing. But then, this is such stuff as pantos are made of. (Simon Bayly) Jack and the Beanstalk at Kings Theatre. Glasgow. See A—Z.
The List 9 — 22 December 198811