Pantomime’s centuries-long survival is down to its willingness to evolve. Recent years have seen great transformations in the genre, with Evolution Productions’ Jack and the Beanstalk at York Theatre Royal celebrating the very best 21st century pantomime has to offer.
Thankfully, passive Princesses are almost extinct from Pantoland today, and indeed writer Paul Hendy dispenses with them completely. This Jack forgoes a romance narrative to focus on Jacqueline’s story of learning to be strong, confident and fight for what’s right, with a little help from Nina Wadia’s effervescent Fairy Sugarsnap.
In the wake of December’s COP26 summit, this Jack and the Beanstalk also has a strong environmental theme, with villain Luke Backinganger seeking to destroy the world by manipulating the climate. Unlike some productions, this message is never laboured or too heavy, but adds a sense of reality and politics to a production that celebrates the very best of pantomime.
From a performing dog act, to a canine pun run, an auditorium-wide water fight and the obligatory ghost gag bench, all the panto staples are delivered with ease and panache, including an additional set of business in the gunge-tank-inspired Autothermoclimatalogical Machine itself as Jack and Billy try to figure out the instructions, selecting weather-themed songs to see what happens.
As Jack, Mia Overfield is the perfect Principal Girl. Not only a performer who embodies the very meaning of triple threat, but a natural pantomime entertainer, knowing when to incite the audience, pause for laughter, and never stop playing the truth in every moment. This makes her Jack not only likeable, but believable and a character whom all the audience wish to succeed. This vital component of pantomime storytelling is so easily lost in productions today, but here it has real heart.
Straddling Les Dawson and John Inman, now-resident Theatre Royal Dame Robin Simpson has the audience in fits of giggles the moment he appears onstage dressed as Clifford’s Tower, whilst Matthew Curnier as Billy conjures up similar titters entombed in a super-sized bouncy red tomato as he strives to help defeat the Giants.
In this re-telling, there are not one, but two Giants: a father and son, imprisoned by Backinanger due to their differences and revealing him as the true villain of the piece. Whilst Hendy forgoes a romance narrative, possibly to reflect contemporary society’s attitude towards marriage, the show still possesses a subplot in Backinanger’s backstory of being rejected at a talent contest audition. James Mackenzie is excellent in the role, strutting about on stage like a spoilt teenager, taunting the audience, ever determined to get his own way.
Hendy's script presents a tale of family and friendship, and there is none stronger than that between Overfield’s Jack and Anna Soden's Dave the Talking Cow. Celebrating a relatively recent development in the area of the skin role, Soden’s Dave demonstrates why such an approach works so well; the audience develop a much stronger relationship with the character, which can express its feelings through spoken language and be involved in greater sections of the narrative. Soden is superb as the lovable Dave and has a real gift for comedy, making her the pantomime Comic at times. Such a bond mirrors the UK’s love of pets, but also builds upon already well-established critter companionships in popular culture from Mulan and Mushu to Shrek and Donkey, demonstrating cinema’s impact on the genre too.
Jack and the Beanstalk has evolved greatly since its first pantomime outing in 1819, and indeed even since Hendy’s 2021 version for Canterbury, which saw the commercial sector’s first coming-out scene. The desire to keep evolving, adapting and re-interpreting, but never re-inventing, continues Evolution Productions’ reign as custodians of contemporary pantomime.