Sometimes, all you want is a big, bright, colourful extravaganza of a pantomime and that’s exactly what Jack and the Beanstalk at the Ipswich Regent is. It has a great set, wonderful lighting, fabulous costumes, and is packed full of gags. It’s always been a skill in panto to have levels and layers of jokes to appeal to kids and adults and this does just that. The script was written by Ipswich Regent panto regular Mike McClean in his 9th pantomime at the theatre, and it has lots of topical references to punctuate the traditional jokes, making it feel fresh. He also plays Silly Simon and is an audience favourite, especially when he has fun with some audience participation towards the end.
This year’s big names are the dancer, choreographer and TV personality Louie Spence as the Spirit of the Beans, and actor and ex-Eastenders star Michael Greco as Fleshcreep. Louie Spence pirouettes and twirls onto the stage acting as the magical narrator with lots of cheeky one-liners and some signature dance moves to his mobile that are hysterical.
Michael Greco makes a great baddie as the giant’s henchman Fleshcreep getting everyone to boo enthusiastically at his Norwich City scarf and goading ITFC supporters in the crowd. I always think a great baddie can make a panto, as it’s all about joining in and Michael really connects with the crowd.
Abbie Budden makes a delightfully spirited Jill with Peter Brad-Leigh as her father Mayor Halfpenny displaying his acting range – you’ll get that reference when you go and see the show. Jack, played by Peter Lavery, is our hero who sells the cow, gets the beans and scales the beanstalk to defeat the giant. The giant makes a spectacular appearance and special mention to Daisy the cow too, who is a very classic panto animal with wonderful eyelashes!
Another essential element of a traditional panto is a larger-than-life Dame. Gavin Ashbarry returns this year as Dame Trott in spectacular form and equally lavish costumes. Gavin also has a terrific singing voice and I would have liked to have heard more numbers from him. He had great fun with the audience, and along with many costume changes, there were some fabulous wigs.
This is a much slicker, funnier and pacier panto than I’ve seen at the Regent in recent years and as a result, it was a fun night and I could tell the audience loved it. So did I!
Jack and the Beanstalk at the Ipswich Regent Theatre runs until 31st December. For details of performance days and times and to buy tickets visit their Website
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