Double entendres fly around the stage like the pies
Any visit to the stunning Wilton’s Music Hall is worth making, we reflected as our two young reviewers, Frida and Woody, skipped along an icy Cable Street buzzing on a bounty of post School Christmas Fair sugary treats, write Frida, Woody and Ed Gray.
Pausing briefly to pay our respects at the wonderful Cable Street mural we slipped into Graces Alley and stepped through the old doorway beneath the big lamp. Our panto genes were well and truly ready for a good ribbing after a pre-show drink in the old bar and a slice of their delicious pizza.
Now in its 13th year, Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner’s Olivier-nominated madcap panto mash-up has become a regular feature of many a family Christmas. The pair met 20 years ago and all those hours together onstage are what makes this intensely-choreographed spectacle so successful. During that time the dynamic duo also famously created Potted Potter, which opened in Las Vegas in 2021. There couldn’t be more of a contrast between the glitz of Vegas and the Victorian splendour of Wilton’s, which has been pulling in punters since the 1690s in one form or another. But according to Jeff they’re both thrilled to be here at last, and judging by the frisky full-house that awaits them, so are the audience.
And we’re off! Straight into Jack and the Beanstalk, scaling panto-maniac heights via Dick Whittington, Snow white, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Aladdin, all the way through to, somewhat controversially, A Christmas Carol. All the usual suspects, but perhaps not quite as you’d imagine. Judging by the cackles of laughter and the big wide eyed grins on the faces of our reviewers on my left and the belly laughs of the man on my right – pint glass in hand – the spirit of panto is very much alive in the hands of Dan and Jeff.
Double entendres flew around the stage like the pies; bloomers are proudly displayed and seemingly impossible swift costume changes are conducted at high-octane pace.
‘Dan and Jeff were working their socks off,’ declared panto fanatics Lynne and Nobby over a glass or two in the interval as the audience enjoyed a well earned rest from the high jinks. Our younger members, however, were more taken with the puppetry, especially the monosyllabic Ugly Sister, the Fairy, and Prince Charming, ‘Huzzah!’, who plucked an innocent gent from the front row to perform ‘the dance of love’.
‘Absolutely astounding!’ was Woody’s verdict and Frida, no stranger to the Carry On back catalogue, could only repeat ‘Oui oui in your ear, Jeff!’ and ‘Milky milky!’ before collapsing in hysterics.
The format hasn’t changed since we saw it last but that’s the joy of panto, and Potted Panto is reassuringly unconventional, uniting young and old, and fitting in spectacularly well with the bawdy spirit of Wilton’s ancient music hall.
Wilton’s Music Hall, Graces Alley, London E1 8JB until 30th December. Times: Evenings at 7.15pm or 7.30pm, Matinees at 1.30pm or 2.30pm .
Admission: £12.00 – £32.00 full price / £10.00 – £29.50 concessions.
Booking: www.wiltons.org.uk
