Frostbite – Who Pinched My Muff?  ☆☆☆ 
Garden Theatre, London

When choosing which pantomime ** to go and see, some are chosen because you like who is appearing in them, or maybe you saw a good one at the same venue last year. There are some pantos, however, which are chosen purely on the basis of their smutty title and ‘FROSTBITE, Who Pinched My Muff?’ wins in this category hands down (or hands ‘in’ as the case may be).

To set the scene, the program notes tell us; “The generically Germanic alpine village of Vaüxhallen is a happy place where all are honest and true.” Quite frankly it’s nauseating, and no one thinks this more than the villainous human-hating Demon Frostbite, whose mission it is to freeze the hearts of all mankind! With his sights sets on our warm-hearted friend Dame Herda Gerda, will Fairy Snowflake thwart his evil plans with a flurry of her magic?

What about Lumiukko, our loveable snowman friend? With thigh-slapping routines and songs you know and love, ‘FROSTBITE, Who Pinched My Muff?’ is all the magic of pantomime from your childhood, but in a beer garden after a few mulled wines” The script is suitably filthy yet topical for a crowd eager to get back to live entertainment as we are told by Dame Herda Gerda (played by the wonderful Dereck Walker) “I like my men like my COVID -19 and easily spread!”

An LGBTQ sensibility and pantomime are perfect bedfellows, and this panto features jokes about Edging, the song WAP and the regular panto favorite ‘The 12 days of Christmas’ which produced some eye poppingly large and complex sex toys along with the usual items such as pots and pans and so on.

The entire cast was fantastic with special mention going to James Lowrie in his professional debut as Lumiukko, bringing a fresh and very sharp sense of comedic performance which belies his years. Lighting Designer Richard Lambert (whose work QueerGuru last admired on Pippin) once again manages to cram in more lights and effects than Oxford Street – an extraordinary feat for such a small outdoor venue and ensures this festive treat of a production glitters.

Cast:  

Bessy Ewa (Greta)
Tom Keeling (Bergermeister Kai)
James Lowrie (Lumiukko)
Kingsley Morton (Fairy Snowflake)
Shelley Rivers (Garbo)
Nathan Taylor (Demon Frostbite)n
Dereck Walker (Dame Herda Gerda)

Creative team:

Writer Gareth Joyner
Director Robert McWhir
Choreographer William Spencer
Musical Director Aaron Clingham
Designer David Shield

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/frostbite

** A Pantomime is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It’s a quintessential British Christmas event songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing. It employs gender-crossing actors and combines topical low-brow humor with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. Pantomime is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers.

REVIEW : JONNY WARD

Jonny Ward, Queerguru Contributing EDITOR is a drama graduate but has worked backstage for many years at venues such as The ROYAL ALBERT Hall, The 02, Southbank Centre and is currently at The NATIONAL THEATRE. He lives in Hoxton, London and is delighted to check out the latest, the hottest and the downright dodgy in queer culture for Queerguru. (P.S. He is currently single)  @JonnyWard360