Riding Hood at Liverpool Everyman

Red Riding Hood at Everyman, Liverpool by Andy Green

This year’s rock ‘n’ roll panto is a bit of a departure in that the tried and tested team of writers, actors and musicians who have been bringing this to audiences for years have all been replaced – only the irrepressible Adam Keast remains from the familiar line-up.

The show starts with an impressive entrance from fairy Cherry Blossom (Aminita Francis) – you wouldn’t get me doing that in a month of Sundays! Francis is making her panto debut but you wouldn’t know it, she’s a natural, great voice, too.

The action takes place in Soggy Bottom, so you know there’s going to be a bit of a Bake Off thing going on and that innuendo is the order of the day. In fact, Peter Rowe’s script is about as subtle as a sledgehammer! The double-entendres fly thick and fast but, as with all the

best pantos, whizz straight over the heads of the young kids while the adults have a good giggle.

Adam Keast plays Ruffles, the aide-de-camp to Prince Florizel the Fortunate (Kenton Guimaraes-Tolley). Keasty has been playing this role or something very like it for years and he’s a master, playing the audience brilliantly and picking out his victim early– great sport,

Sean will go onto feature throughout the show. The hapless prince had a few problems with his microphone – he couldn’t keep it in his trousers. But these little things that go wrong and the way the performers react is what makes pantos so enjoyable.

Every panto needs a dame and Ben Welch plays Grandma Millicent Merry to perfection, he’s hilarious and what a voice! The multi-talented cast also includes guitar playing, rock star Lupus the Wolf (Damien James) who really knows how to belt out a tune. Speaking of tunes, there are probably more songs than usual in this incarnation of the rock ‘n’ roll panto but they are all superbly performed under the musical direction of the rather cute Rob Green.

The cast also make up the band and I‘m always very impressed at how they can swap instruments – I think I counted four different people behind the drums alone.

There’s great physicality in this show – mostly provided by Rebecca Levy and Robert Penny - with plenty of slapstick that’s wonderfully and expertly accompanied by cartoon sound effects, every bong, boing and bash was perfectly timed.

Local actor Paislie Reid plays the title character, and she too has a great singing voice as has her nemesis, Lady Lucille De Ville played by another local Jennifer Hynes who is making her professional debut.

Director Suba Das has delivered an enjoyable romp that retains a lot of the traditional elements of an Everyman panto – you will probably get wet. It’s possibly a little too long (that’s not something you’ll hear me saying very often!) but it’s thoroughly entertaining for kids and adults alike. It looks great, sounds great and it’s 4/5 from me.

Red Riding Hood is at the Everyman until 14 January 2023.

photo credit is Marc Brenner

Details and tickets here  

Published: 30-Nov-2022 (6925)