Lorna Irvine finds this year's winter panto to be enjoyable but disappointing.
David MacLennan and Dave Anderson's latest Winter Panto for Oran Mor's PPP season is fun, but a little perfunctory.
It starts off well enough, with a spirited number from the four strong cast (Dave Anderson, Frances Thorburn, George Drennan and Juliet Cadzow) riffing on stage fright, We're Shiting Ourselves. The piece purports to be about Cinderella from the perspective of the Ugly Sisters, with Drennan and Anderson in self-reflexive mode bitching about who is prettier, the better actor, etc, but quickly loses its way a little- although Drennan in a golden Afro and Anderson with his padded arse were always going to be a vision to treasure- two men who put the 'cross' in cross-dressing.
It quickly becomes a conventional Cinderella story, which is a shame as the Ugly Sisters concept was excellent on paper. There are some worthwhile moments, such as witty use of cardboard cut outs displaying the limitations of theatre and Cadzow's saucy royal dominatrix, but the satire at times feels shoehorned in and the repetition of 'Pavilion jokes' wears a little thin.
Not as scathing or consistent as their Summer Panto then, but Thorburn's giddy dual performance as a sexually frustrated Buttons and Socialist Cinders makes it well worth a look- both her singing voice and comic timing are wonderful.
Runs at Oran Mor until December 21.
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