The opening scene behind gauze sets out the story of how the prince (Samuel Wyn-Morris) was put under a spell. Fairy Bon Bon (Charlie Hardwick) then brightens up the stage, setting the location, in Pallyon—as in French for Pallion! The following scenes introduce the various characters in turn, first Belle (Olivia Birchenough), then the Dame Rorina La Pank (Miss Rory) who introduces her son Louis La Plonk (Tom Whalley) and so on.
While North East actress Hardwick has some delightful amusing lines, she delivers them with relish and all the aplomb of an award-winning actor. Miss Rory, synonymous with glamour and wit who has appeared at Newcastle Boulevard since opening in 2010 in their adult pantomimes, makes her presence known on every entrance, and not just because of height! Whalley instantly connects with the audience on every entrance and directs much to the audience, making them feel part of the story.
The baddie, Hugo Pompidou (George Olney), is drowned out by boos on every entrance. The nature of pantomime is to have over-the-top, larger-than-life characters, but there are the natural ones to balance like Belle, her prince and father Clement (Marcus Knibbs) who bring the human touch to the story. It is a shame many actors only play to the stalls and not the whole theatre. There are some excellent singing voices with Wyn-Morris excelling. Director Paul Boyd uses the stage well with the ensemble giving great support in their routines by choreographer David Allwood. The walk-down costumes (Elizabeth Dennis) are delightful and very patriotic in red, white and blue.
The 2018 award-winning script sticks to the well-known story. It has countless double entendres addressed at the adults, which keeps their interest and laughter constant. At over two and a half hours with an interval, it is a long time to engage a young audience; the first half is mainly story-driven, more like a play, but the second half explodes with content and moves the story along at a pace. Things really look up with the first real appearance of the Beast, with some lovely exchanges between Birchenough and Wyn-Morris. A few traditional panto ingredients are missing, such as the slop scene and community song, and a few props would have created more child interest, but the 'it’s behind you' ghost scene gets the audience going and plenty of "oh no it isn’t!"
The story is derived from La Belle et la Bete, a fairy-tale written by French novelist Gabrielle Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve first published in 1740. “A tale as old as time”. Some think the story originated in a myth written in the 2nd century CE by Apuleius, Cupid and Psyche, which many believe to be the first fairy tale.
The Sunderland Empire was first opened 29 September 1906 by Vesta Tilley and, while having undergone many changes, remains one of the North East’s major theatres and long may it remain so. They say good things last; well the story has stood the test of time, the theatre is still going strong and as for the pantomime, it's one ‘beauty’ of a show.