This is not your bog-standard Jack and the Beanstalk. In Sonia Jalaly’s version, the story has been picked up and dropped into a school in Hammersmith, run by the meat-loving monster Fleshcreep (John Partridge, who wears a salami-printed suit). There’s no giant either; just a colossus computer system hidden in the sky, built to wipe children’s brains of all their imagination.
It’s all good fun and games, but at times you long for a little familiarity. Still, with the truly wonderful Fairy Godfather (Jade Hackett) at the front and centre of this production, it would take a real Scrooge not to be taken in by all the festivity. Hackett combines wizardry with wisdom to serve up one of the most commanding turns I’ve ever seen on a panto stage.
Directed by Nicholai La Barrie, the production fizzes with cheery spark. There’s a fiery love story between Momma Trott and the Fairy Godfather; they’re drawn together like magnets every time they lock eyes on stage. What’s not here are the political jokes that have characterised Lyric pantos of years gone by. Apart from a single reference to the Coldplay CCTV cheating saga (very well done), it doesn’t feel particularly topical either.
So, La Barrie leans fully into the sparkle of it all. The pop hits come thick and fast, with choreography by Kayla Lomas-Kirton sending the stage into a disco ball frenzy. Jack, played by Joey James, is a nervous little thing and hides behind a sock puppet (used to varying degrees of success) that sits on his arm. His sister Jill (a brilliantly sassy Sienna Widd) has a no-nonsense attitude and refuses to be intimidated by evil Fleshcreep’s threats. When her mum and brother finally enter the giant’s kingdom after climbing a beanstalk made of socks to rescue her, she is totally unfazed by the whole thing.
Sam Harrison’s dame might not have the flair of others who have gone before her. But, with Partridge at the helm, this is a properly sinister Christmas hit. Even the audience fear him – proper fee-fi-fo fun.
