Review: Sleeping Beauty at Sunderland Empire
Jeff Brown reports back from pantoland on Wearside... where there's no chance of dozing off
Just a handful more sleeps until Christmas – but good luck persuading the little ‘uns to settle down under the duvet once they’ve been to this high-octane offering at Sunderland Empire.
The posters and the programme have Fairy Snowflake (Call the Midwife mainstay Laura Main) front and centre, and she certainly puts in a shift as she cleverly stitches the story together. A very impressive singing voice, too, which I don’t recall ever being given an airing over the 14 series of Midwife.
But the undoubted stars are the outrageous Rorina the Cleaner (Miss Rory) and her irrepressible son and sidekick Vesta the Jester (Tom Whalley). For comic timing, teamwork and delivery, you’d be hard-pushed to find a better panto pairing.
Given Miss Rory’s reputation as the region’s top drag performer, you can guess what’s in store, and there is some near-the-knuckle stuff. Even Vesta wonders aloud, of the “rising sausage” scene: “How did we get away with that?!” The answer is – by sheer cheek, and the fact most of it (hopefully) flies over the youngsters’ heads. Though, these days…
With the exception of the dreaded Covid year the two have been Empire regulars since 2019, and have developed a partnership which is clearly a winner. Much like the city’s football team last weekend. Top marks to the cast for restraint, in making only a single reference to Sunday’s derby result. For The King in particular (local lad Pete Peverley) it must have been tempting.
A gold star, too, to writer Jon Monie, for a pacy script which kept the jokes coming, and which gave a new twist to the traditional Sleeping Beauty story.
Set in “Mackemland”, in this one time travel involving the Tardis (“I got it from a Doctor friend of mine,” says Fairy Snowflake) allows Princess Rose (Evelyn Hoskins) to battle the fabulously evil wicked fairy Carabosse (stunningly played by Jordan Lee Davis) and wake the slumbering Prince Vincent (Channel 5’s Milkshake presenter David Ribi) with a kiss.
With strong visuals and great accompaniment from musical director Richard Baker and his team it made for a wonderful evening’s entertainment, only slightly offset by the occasional audio problems – the Prince and Princess bravely battling through their first number in Act Two.
Not that the excitable scout troop in front of me seemed to notice. After all, you can get away with just about anything in panto.
Sleeping Beauty is at Sunderland Empire until January 4. Visit the website for tickets.