When I saw the racy trailer for Tinderella, I thought I knew what I was getting myself in for. It’s an adult pantomime that’s so racy it sometimes skips over innuendo entirely – literally two seconds into the trailer, a stuffed toy penis pops up on screen.
That didn’t stop me from being shocked when I walked into Ancoats’ Hope Mill Theatre and heard the cast rehearsing an extremely sexual parody of a semi-religious song (title redacted – you’ll have to buy a ticket and see for yourself). But as Dale Vicker, one of the show’s Ugly Sisters, tells me, that’s nothing compared to the rest of the show.
What, then, can you expect from the show? Directed by Will Spencer, it’s running for 35 shows, opening tonight and lasting until January 5, and half the shows are already sold out.
“I suppose Manchester want a bit more naughty than nice this Christmas,” teases Verity Walker, who plays the lead role, Tinderella. Though it played on the West End last year, the script has been rewritten to make the pantomime up-to-date and Manchester-specific. Dale tells me, “It’s not one to take your nan to,” while the other Ugly Sister, Luca, said: “It depends what kind of nan you’ve got!”
It’s also in quite an intimate, 140-seater theatre – so panto fans be warned, you will be called upon. Luca will be one to watch for this. Though this is their first role since graduating from musical theatre school two and a half years ago, their well-worn drag persona Miss Gendered should make them a fearsome onstage presence.
The first requirement of a pantomime is lots of fun, and this production seems to have that in spades. Tinderella, after a long dry spell (wink wink), meets not one but two handsome princes – perhaps more than she can handle (nudge nudge). As the show’s website suggestively puts it: “Will this be her happy ending or will she lose more than her shoe?!”
But sex isn’t the only thing that sells this panto. Uncommon for adult pantomimes, it has an original score. Luca says the score “really dives into the more niche depths of musical theatre” as well as cliché classics. Even Luca hadn’t heard of some of the songs before, and that’s saying something – they have a fifteen-hour playlist on their phone that solely consists of musical theatre overtures.
Verity and Dale come from drastically different theatre backgrounds. Verity studied straight acting at ArtsEd in London, and only discovered musical theatre after she graduated, starring in Elf the Musical and a short West End run of another show last year.
Her whole family are in the entertainment business: “I grew up backstage at pantos.” Dale also loved acting as a child but then did less as a teenager, but now has rediscovered it and performs when he’s not running his cleaning business. “Not very glamorous”, he says. “Don’t write that down.”
In such a risqué performance, it’s essential that the cast established each other’s boundaries very early in the process.
Luca tells me, “It actually kind of surprised me, if there’s physical contact there’s just kind of a natural, ‘Is this okay?’” Verity says that another element that keeps the play feeling good is that Tinderella is a rounded character – not just a sexual stereotype. “It makes me proud to walk onstage and step into that sensual being.” This approach ensures that everyone can be part of the fun – but I can’t promise good clean fun.
You can buy tickets for Tinderella at Hope Mill Theatre here: https://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/event/tinderella/
Feature image by Chris Patel (left to right, Luca, Verity and Dale)
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