It’s not completely accurate to say I didn’t know what I was getting myself in for when I went to Hope Mill Theatre in Ancoats to see Tinderella, a strictly 18+ pantomime. Tinderella delivered exactly what I expected – and went much, much further.
You might think getting an intoxicated audience to laugh at sex jokes is an easy feat. But the cleverly written original songs, the choreography and each performer’s economical use of the small stage were what really brought the show home.
Not much was subtle about this Cinderella parody. Tinderella (played by Verity Walker) pines for a handsome – and well-endowed – prince. After Tindy has a chance encounter with Prince Charming (Elizabeth Parkin), her ugly sisters Chlamydia (Luca Crawford) and Clitoria (Dale Vicker) ban her from attending the Prince’s ball.
At one point Tinderella sings an entire parody of Les Miserables’ “Castle on a Cloud”, rhyming “cloud” with “plowed” – you get the picture. But rather than letting the innate hilarity of penis jokes carry them through, each actor took the material to new heights.
The ugly sisters particularly excelled. Crawford and Vicker were a truly slick double act, equal parts grotesque and endearing. Parkin put on a tireless performance as Prince Charming, tackling vocally demanding songs while running up and down the aisles. Buttons (Joshua David) did most of the crowdwork, and did it expertly. When he asked Saturday’s audience how they wanted him to refer to them, and one man instantly responded with the C-word, for once it was the cast’s turn to be shocked.
The physical comedy was well-executed, including one scene where Clitoria receives a breast enlargement from behind a screen, and Chlamydia shoots ping-pong balls from under her skirt. Buttons’ fake moustache refused to stick to his face, but he recovered from this multiple times, to the audience’s delight.
The second half was changed last-minute to fit around technical difficulties with lighting, but the cast adapted almost flawlessly. One group number, in which the cast mimed sexual actions on each other that grew in complexity as the key of the song got higher, appeared to be a last-minute addition, but it received the most enthusiastic ovation of the entire performance. These changes did slightly take me out of the plot – but was anyone really there for the plot?
Walker previously said Tinderella was a rounded, sensual being, rather than an oversexualized stereotype. This came across in the show. The production destigmatized casual sex by giving all the characters ridiculously high libidos. The nature of the innuendos and the gender-swapping of certain roles made it clear that every type of sexuality was on the table, not just heterosexuality.
Hope Mill also championed inclusivity on Saturday night through their First Curtain campaign, which gives a first theatre trip to children who can’t normally afford it. It was gratifying to see that pantomime, the medium through which many children discover theatre, was enabling its young audience to grow even wider.
Tinderella closes on January 5th, so there’s still plenty of time to buy a ticket. The cast promised that they’d be back in a year for “Jack off the Beanstalk: Grab your Chopper” – so I recommended getting those babysitters booked early.
Feature image by Robin Savage
