SLEEPING BEAUTY. To 22 January.
London
SLEEPING BEAUTY
by Hope Massiah and Delroy Murray
Theatre Royal Stratford East To 22 January 2005
Mon-Sat 2.15pm & 7.15pm no performance 25 December, 3-4 January no 7.15pm performance 31 December, 5-6,12,19 January also 10.15am on 5-6, 12.19 January
Audio-described/BSL Signed 13 January
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 020 8534 0310
theatreroyal@stratfordeast.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 December
Chalk up another Christmas success for E15.Is it a wry glance West Endwards that has Marcus Powell's Nanny open the show with a song putting herself ahead of Mary Poppins in the Nanny stakes? Certainly Stratford East's way ahead of most pantos in its exhilarating ethnic diversity. When three good Godmothers appear, cast from Asian, Black and White performers, it's not making a point, but naturally imaging an inclusive diversity that echoes all around this theatre. It's an identity that develops over the years. E15 has it, far more than most theatres.
And Powell is a wonderful Caribbean Dame, someone who commands respect because she's sure of what's right even though she's completely lost in purely geographical terms as the show starts. This Dame's liable to give anyone a ticking off - any character on stage, or for that matter the audience. Our waywardness in going out for the interval comes in for especial reproof, all done with a kindly firmness that puts us in our place yet never leaves us feeling put out.
When Nanny's not around to ensure the world's on best behaviour we're treated to two levels of villainy. There's Eve Polycarpou's wicked Godmother, full of curses and sneers to be vehemently hissed and booed. And East 15 panto regular Michael Bertenshaw's self-seeking court official to be laughed at in his servility and haughtiness to the powerful and the poor respectively. His delightfully sickening, overbearing manner to his young relative, and our hero, Page switches instantly to fawning praise when he discovers the lad's in with the palace powers-that-be.
Dawn Reid directs an energetic show, colourfully backed by Nick Barnes' settings, centred on a palace that looks huge thanks to an exaggerated receding perspective. The sympathetic characters are all far from insipid, serious in their battles against the sleeping curse, and in the case of Ashley Perrin's Page and Hannah Lawrence's Princess Zarina in their love for each other.
From start to finish, without massive special effects, just through fast-pacing and strong performances, energy pulsates audiencewards. Without a single flat or misjudged moment, with story and characters respected throughout, the Theatre Royal scores again.
Nanny: Marcus Powell
Godmother Water: Angie Wallis
Godmother Air: Praveen Sond
Godmother Fire: Yaa
Mee Wan Bad Godmother: Eve Polycarpou
Lord Sufian: Michael Bertenshaw
King: David Rubin
Queen: Natasha Bain
Princess Zarina: Hannah Lawrence
Page: Ashley Perrin
With: Ekow Oiver, Gary McErlane
Director: Dawn Reid
Designer: Nick Barnes
Lighting: Paul Anderson
Sound: Chris Whelan
Musical Director: Robert Hyman
Choreographer: Maria Ryan
Assistant director: Natasha Cox
Assistant Musical director: Ian MacGregor
2004-12-28 20:31:31