This year marks a decade of Bard In The Botanics pantos at the Byre as the Glasgow-based company journeys east again with its special brand of festive fun. Written and directed by Bard’s Gordon Barr, we are taken off to Fantasia where all is not well and the Beast has not yet found the love of a good woman.
Elements of the original story wrapped up in a big panto parcel of songs, dances and jokes
The ancient fairy tale of Beauty and The Beast has inspired a host of versions on stage and in film all over the world. Here there are elements of the original story wrapped up in a big panto parcel of songs, dances and jokes. Humour is definitely to the fore as the show boasts not one but two Dames.
Eimi Quinn’s Belle (Beauty) is a nae nonsense modern lass combining her sass with a lovely singing voice. Her mother is the bonkers Bunty Bahookie, played by Alan Steele, returning to the Byre to play daft Dame. Steele is a delight, well, probably not for the men in the audience who take the Dame’s fancy! The traditional dame-ing nonsense is interspersed with utterly hilarious off-script whimsy.
Stephen Arden makes a rather fetching bad fairy Belladonna Nightshade (so bad, they named her twice) It seems you can never have too many men dressed up as women at Christmas.
The young cast, two teams of twelve, ably provide villagers, castle servants and teenage girls with Mean Girl vibes bringing the community into the cast.
