Last year’s Beauty and the Beast at the Oxford Playhouse was an occasionally surreal, intermittently avant garde, defiantly postmodern rave-up. This year, the city’s big pantomime has gone a tad more conventional, with an Aladdin that comes complete with a shiny-frocked Widow Twankey, a talking dog and a flying magic carpet.
Written and directed by Steve Marmion, this Aladdin is cheerful, good natured and instils a goodly dose of the required festive spirit without resorting to taking cues from the Disney film that has perhaps cornered the market in Aladdin-themed shows since its release.
Here we have a clean-cut mummy’s boy Aladdin (Adam Samuel-Bal) falling for feisty Princess Rose (Kiran Sonia Sawar, whose pronounced Scots inflection certainly adds to the feistiness) in the traditional Chinese setting. Vizier Abanazar (Paul Barnhill) is a thoroughly boo-able creation in glistening two-tone silkiness, while Wishee Washee (Nathan Bryon) has been converted into an upbeat rapping canine who immediately engages the kids in the audience.
Barnhill does a great job as Abanazer, as does Nigel Betts as Twankey, who gives it the Les Dawson-style pantomime dame treatment. Indeed, the cast as a whole sock over their story with tremendous enthusiasm and an infectious energy. There’s even time for a strangely impressive magic carpet moment which – though rudimentary compared with the CGI of the big screen – manages to be quietly enchanting with just a few cables and strategically aimed lights.
The carpet is likely to provide the big “ooh-look!” moment for the children – it certainly did for my five-year-old, despite seeing it for the second time in a week. Hence she also knew the best place to position herself to catch the sweets Widow Twankey hurls occasionally from the stage (anti-sugar parents might want to watch out). That, and the foam cutlass she got to wave around her head, ensured Aladdin delivered big time. No shortage of Christmas spirit here.
-
Oxford Playhouse, until 10 January. Box office: 01865 305 305
