Anna Burnside reviews a summer panto that’s ‘more cerebral and less smutty than many shows in the genre’.
An evil property developer has his sights set on Gran’s house, a quaint cottage on the edge of Kelvingrove Park. A mysterious entrepreneur wants to knock it down and replace it with others made of straw and sticks, part of his scheme to make Great Western Road great again.
To scare her out, he has started rumours about a big bad wolf. These are spread via one of the many great visual puns in this bonkers summer panto - Fox News. Talking animals are a recurring theme, so the bulletin is delivered by an actual fox.
In writer Gary McNair’s hands, Little Red Riding Hood gets mashed up with the Three Little Pigs to make satire with roots in Wildcat as well as trad panto. (McNair co-wrote earlier PPP pantos with Wildcat founder Dave Anderson and has absorbed some of his sensibilities and political humour.)
It’s more cerebral and less smutty than many shows in the genre. George Drennan’s Gran, a prim dame in a tweed crinoline, leaves the lonely bachelors of the front row unmolested.
There’s some audience work, but the real joys are the smarter gags - at one point we are accused of giving fake boos. The action takes place in once upon a time. My personal favourite is the gallus talking sheep, Baz.
McNair, who also directs, makes the most of Tyler Collins’ excellent Trump impersonation. Jo Freer brings two different varieties of sass as she swaps between the gallus Baz and Collins’ entitled intern.
The plot is about as substantial as one of the straw houses but that does not get in the way of the fun.
Big Bad Riding Hood performs at Oran Mor until 19 July 2026. For further details, go to the production’s website.
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