Pantomime relies on fulfilling the expectations of the audience, but just how much of a formula it has become is demonstrated by visits to Richmond (Simon Callow stars as the evil Abanazar) and to Wimbledon (Richard Wilson as grumpy-but-kind Baron Hardup) on subsequent nights. The story may be different but the format is very much the same - what you're buying into is a tried and tested product, reliable but unoriginal. If you want something less paint by numbers you'll have to head to Stratford East.
That said, Cinderella is good fun and gets an extra star not just for the cute Shetland ponies who pull the carriage, but for its sheer glittery girly pinkness. Cinderella's ball gown is so gloriously sugary that one wonders whether the prince may eat her rather than kiss her. What also gives it the edge is the fact that it gets on and tells the story-you get the slapstick sequence and the sing-along - but you also get a proper narrative.
Pantomime is all about high energy fun not emotional depth, but to be really satisfying you've got to care about the characters as you would in any play. Here the central relationship between Peter Duncan's love-lorn Buttons and Naomi Wilkinson's sympathetic Cinderella ensure that you do, particularly in a lovely quiet little scene before the big transformation in which he lovingly creates a carriage for her out of a table and dustbins. It also helps that the performances are so strong across the whole cast.
John Barrowman's square-jawed prince really can sing (sometimes his own praises), Richard Wilson demonstrates his impeccable comic timing, Dave Lynn is a bitchy drag queen delight as ugly sister Britney and Susan Hampshire is as warm as toast as the fairy godmother. It's not transforming, it's not quite magic, but it keeps the cold out very nicely.
· Until January 15. Box office: 0870 060 6646.
