Given the current cost-of-living crisis, it’s fitting that the Hackney Empire has chosen a cautionary tale that reminds us beauty and riches cannot guarantee happiness for its annual panto.
This year sees the brilliant Clive Rowe in his 15th turn as the venue’s dame, batting large ingénue eyelashes, and stepping into an array of gloriously OTT frocks including a face-cream-pot number with outlandish swirls placed you-know-where.
Rowe also directs this warm-hearted, community-oriented production, set in Hackneywood, an area buzzing with young people addicted to social media. Kind-hearted Mother Goose is running her makeover parlour at a deficit given she rarely charges her fame-obsessed clients. Even her youngest Billy (Kat B) is an influencer who doesn’t know what or why he’s influencing.
When the Demon Queen (Rebecca Parker) throws down the Faustian gauntlet decreeing she will steal Mother Goose’s soul by putting a golden-egg producing spell on goose Priscilla (Ruth Lynch), Fairy Fame (Gemma Wardle) declares the plan will fail. But Landlord Squire Purchase (Tony Marshall) is after Mother Goose for back payments, and his free-spirited, drummer-daughter Jill (Holly Mallett) can’t quash his mercenary ways. A pity, given Jill has a crush on handsome Jack Goose (Ope Sowande).
Will Brenton's script is convoluted and a bit confusing. If social media is the target it seems odd to have the Demon Queen leading the attack. Parker revels in her wickedness in eye-wateringly short hotpants, but it’s not clear how Mother Goose and her altruistic salon fit into the moral scheme. Empire regular Kat B is a charmingly childlike stooge, and local kids are expertly drilled in neatly choreographed numbers. There are pleasing panto set pieces including a Ghostbusters scored ‘it’s behind you’ scene, and a slick pun-fest of jokes delivered over a sweets cart.
When the tempo shifts gear, a tribute to the venue’s 120-year history is presented in truncated Oscars ceremony style, it’s an interesting, albeit odd diversion, but any bid for glamour can’t detract from a production that is also feeling the pinch in both props and set (wondrous goose puppet and Cleo Pettitt’s glorious costumes aside)
Still, with Clive Rowe as dame they could get away with much more. His vocals are extraordinary and his goodwill towards the audience and the joyous anarchy he emanates are blissfully contagious.
Mother Goose runs until December 31. https://hackneyempire.co.uk/
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