This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour was invited to see Cinderella by Lichfield Garrick.
For Brum Radio’s interval Theatre, Dave Massey spoke to Rebecca Keatley about playing the Fairy Godmother.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
Please note this production contains a lot of puns and.. audience participation!
Cinderella at The Garrick
Directed by Sam Rabone, written by Paul Hendy
Cinderella’s (Beccy Lane) step-sisters (James Mitchell and George Akid) arrive at Baron Hardup’s (George Telfer) large but rundown estate for the first time after living it up in France. They waste no time in bullying Cinderella for their own entertainment. Even though she has Button’s (Sam Rabone) shoulder to cry on, Cinderella doesn’t notice that he is desperately in love with her.
Meanwhile, Prince Charming (Dominic Griffin) and Dandini (Herbie Adams) swap places when they are visiting a winter travelling fair and the prince is enchanted from the second he bumps into Cinderella. Realising he has a love rival, Buttons tells the prince that he doesn’t know who Cinderella is. The Prince arranges for a ball to be held at the castle to seek out his possible princess.
All of these proceedings are watched over by the Fairy Godmother (Rebecca Keatley), who is actually a trainee fairy being challenged on video by none other than Paul O’Grady!!
This family-friendly production is filled with more shamelessly terrible puns than an episode of Take me Out. It also manages to be charming and magical at the same time. There are some very topical comments about politics and royalty as well as how the perceptions of the original story may seem outdated today. The set, lighting, music, dancing and singing are all excellent.
Stand out moments away from the main plot included: a great homage to Strictly Come Dancing in the Ballroom scene hosted by Twice Daily and Claudia Wrinklebum! The Claudia impression was too funny! An Ed Sheeran/Beyonce Mashup. Plus there was some great onstage magic!
The scene-stealing step-sisters and their ever-changing costumes make them great baddies who you love to hate and even have RuPaul’s Cover Girl as their theme when they enter the stage.
Cinderella and Peter Pan are my favourite pantos and I love to see how they are interpreted. I love Cinderella for the transformation scene which was staged beautifully here and here they also utilise a freezing action when the Prince meets Cinderella for the first time. Any young people seeing this as their first theatre experience would be enchanted.
Book tickets to Cinderella which at The Garrick until 5th January here: lichfieldgarrick.com/whats-on/all-shows/cinderella/2430
The Garrick is five minutes walk from Lichfield City Station.
This isn’t a sponsored post.
When not writing about theatre for BrumHour, or producing Interval Theatre for Brum Radio (Tuesdays 3pm) brumradio.com/intervaltheatre, Dave Massey can be found eating crisps and tweeting about Birmingham for #BrumHour.
