
Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick!
Charing Cross Theatre
24th Nov 2023 to 13th Jan 2024
“Journey back in time to the tiny kingdom of Slutvia and a 21st birthday ball, where the haughty but horny widowed Queen Gertrude is on the prowl for a husband, and her son Prince Beauty searches for the boy of his dreams. When he stumbles on a prick in the palace garden, he wakes up in a modern world where palaces are run by the National Trust and the man of your dreams is somewhere on Grindr…
Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick! is from the creative team behind the now-closed Above The Stag Theatre’s legendary Christmas shows, which placed gay characters front and centre in much-loved fairytales, adventures and legends. Widely acknowledged as a highlight of the festive theatre season and the most successful alternative pantomime series in the country, the team’s irreverent and inventive shows played packed-out runs for over a decade, the most recent playing 70 performances, building a large and loyal audience and winning critical acclaim, as well as praise from stars including Ian McKellen and Graham Norton.
Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick! is written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper with original songs by Jon Bradfield.”
Review by Richard Lambert, 4 Stars
A stunning pantomime with fabulous set (David Shields) and costume design (Sandy Lloyd and Robert Draper) has been installed at the Charing Cross theatre. With a very funny script (Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper) full of one-liners and clever comedic moments from director Andrew Beckett, this is probably the most lavish and expensive adult panto production in the UK.
A cast of nine fill the stage and their musical numbers are superbly choreographed by Carole Todd.
Everything is extremely well it by Jamie Platt who quite literally hasn’t missed a beat – technicolour choices that bring a zing to the production.
The songs are original and, although this is laudable, panto audiences do like to join in. Well they can’t when they don’t know the tunes. There were also sound issues at the performance I watched which meant it was at times a struggle to hear the lyrics. With a slow down in pace half way through the first half upto to the interval a couple more musical numbers would have been welcomed in lieu of quite so much text.
A very talented cast but possibly not all of the cast are best suited to panto character roles. Casting by Harry Blumeneau was slightly unexpected – not a twink in sight and Prince Arry looking a little older than one might expect for a young male gay virgin coming upto his age of majority birthday. It might have an LGBT+ adult story but did not feel like the cast crossed too far over any lines.
But despite this, a great night out for the adults who want to leave their troubles at the door and enjoy a really fun show.
Photo credit Danny Kaan
Cast: Matthew Baldwin, Nikki Biddington, Natalia Brown, Matthew Gent, Myles Hart, Chris Lane, Tom Mann, Jordan Stamatiadis, Fin Walton.
Creative team:
Director: Andrew Beckett
Set Designer: David Shields (Heathers The Musical, West End)
Choreographer: Carole Todd
Costume Designers: Sandy Lloyd and Robert Draper
Lighting Designer: Jamie Platt (The last Five Years, West End; Jellyfish, Bush Theatre/National Theatre)
Orchestrator and musical director: Aaron Clingham (Grindr: The Opera, Above The Stag)
Sound Designer: Keegan Curran (Pippin, Charing Cross Theatre)
Producer: Oli Sones for He’s Behind You! Ltd
Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick!
by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper with original songs by Jon Bradfield
Directed by Andrew Beckett
Charing Cross Theatre
The Arches
Villiers Street
London WC2N 6NL
www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk
Box office: 08444 930650
The box office is open from 2 hours before curtain time on performance days for personal callers
23 November 2023 to 13 January, 2024
Performances:
Tuesday – Saturday at 7.30pm
Sunday at 6pm
Saturday at 3.00pm
Sunday at 2.00pm
Tickets from £28.00
Social media
Instagram/Facebook/Twitter:
@HBYPantos
Website:
https://www.sleepingbeautytakesaprick.com