Cinderella at Oldham Coliseum

The Oldham panto is a great tradition, stretching back to the days of Kenneth Alan Taylor and beyond. As a writer and a Dame, Taylor is a pantomime legend and wrote his first panto (Cinderella) for Oldham Coliseum in the early 1960s. As there are only five big titles – Aladdin, Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk, Mother Goose and Cinderella – it’s not surprising that Cinderella is back again this year, written by director Kevin Shaw and Dame Fine Time Fontayne.

I can see the latter in the New Year’s honours now. It’s a successful show that meets its audience’s expectations full on, with a catchphrase for Buttons – an incredibly energetic Richard J Fletcher as usual; a brilliant and continuing “oh yes you are, oh no we aren’t” from Sue Devaney as the wicked stepmother Countessa Viyella Squeezepocket; and a rather good cannibalised version of Two Ladies from Cabaret with Viyella and the Ugly Sisters Pumpy and Trumpy, played by Fontayne and Simeon Truby, all within the first 15 minutes.

Read the full review by By Chris Wallis, Theatre Editor for our friends at Northern Soul with photos by Darren Robinson here 

Published: 6-Dec-2018 (5188)