I have never seen an audience quieten down as quickly as last Thursday night, when I sat in the Exeter Northcott Theatre watching their 2024 pantomime Cinderella. The fantastically flamboyant Fairy Godmother (portrayed by Matt Freeman) strutted onto stage in full neon pink and from that moment onwards, we were enraptured.
Following on from the article I wrote for Exeposé about the history of pantomime, I was thrilled to be given the chance to see one this December and ‘Cinderella’ certainly did not disappoint. Bearing every hallmark of a classic pantomime, Exeter Northcott Theatre and La Navet Bete’s production of Cinderella still manages to distinguish itself from other performances of the same story. As the second most popular panto in the UK after Snow White (The Grand), that is not an easy feat to accomplish.
In this year’s production, Cinderella lives in the faraway kingdom of Exeter, which has been struck by a terrible winter that has frozen over the whole city. But, as the Countess (played by Jodie Micciché) reveals in her opening monologue, this is no ordinary freeze – it’s all part of her wickedly brilliant plan to make a lot of money selling knitted goods to the freezing inhabitants, and of course eventually take over the kingdom.
As every panto must, this production was full of word play, slapstick comedy, and vibrant characters. There were just enough puns to satisfy the must-have panto quota, but not so many as to take away from the jolly performances of the actors. The physical comedy was repeatedly laugh-out-loud, and I was lucky enough to witness one instance where the two mischievous mice, Buttons (Nick Blunt) and Poppers (Al Dunn), went supposedly off-script to strand the poor Fairy Godmother rolling on the floor in full skiwear. If you’ve never seen a man in skis and a twelve-inch pink wig try to stand up, I can confirm it’s very funny.
As every panto must, this production was full of word play, slapstick comedy, and vibrant characters.
On that note, it is worth mentioning the rapport between the cast. Their charm and wit both in audience interaction and between each other made a huge different to the comfort of the audience watching. In a word, Cinderella felt happy. It truly was a joy to watch.
An example of classic panto word play came in the form of Prince Farming, traditionally ‘Charming’ (played by Aaron Dart) but with a Devonshire spin. His love for the dear kingdom of Exeter only partially extends beyond his beloved sheep, but as always, his trusty friend Dandini (Bryony Maguire) comes to the rescue of the kingdom each time. The dynamic between these two was great fun, and harks back to Rossini’s opera, La Cenerentola (Welsh National Opera) in which the Prince switches identities with his manservant to get to know Cinderella better.
The raucous duos, Buttons and Poppers, or instead Bonjela and Sue de Crème (played by Nick Blunt and Al Dunn respectively), were fantastically chaotic throughout. Based on the original Commedia dell’Arte ‘zanni’ – ‘tumblers’, buffoons, or clowns (Britannica) – these characters certainly caused enough mischief and mayhem to warrant the name. Their excess of physical comedy was matched only by the Fairy Godmother herself, unicycling extraordinaire that she was.
Musically, Cinderella continued to impress. Performances of popular songs such as Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘Roar’ by Katy Perry, and ‘One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)’ by One Direction managed to strike a balance in the audience that had everyone singing along, young and old. ‘Multi-talented’ doesn’t seem grand enough to describe the cast, as they took every challenge the panto had in their stride – dance sequences, musical numbers, audience participation and even fight scenes (you wouldn’t want to get on Cinderella’s bad side, that’s for sure). All were characterful, engaging, and hilarious.
‘Multi-talented’ doesn’t seem grand enough to describe the cast, as they took every challenge the panto had in their stride
This review would not be complete however, without a compliment to the set and costume teams. Led by Katie Haywood, the costumes for the whole production were just as vibrant as the characters themselves. A particularly memorable moment was when Cinderella’s ballgown floated down from the ceiling and was resized to fit the actress (Nicci Ashford) on stage. The wigs were sky high and astonishingly structurally stable. The set was just as beautiful. Hand painted set boards amongst props like a market cart, sheep-drawn sleigh, and a throne really brought the fairytale to life.
Cinderella, in a nutshell, was charismatic, creative, and witty, a spell-binding adventure for an audience of any age. It’s on at the Exeter Northcott Theatre until 5th January, so I encourage you to get tickets while you still can and treat yourself to this magical experience.
