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It was packed at the Charing Cross Theatre press night for the new pantomime Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick, written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, and directed by Andrew Beckett. The VIPs were nose job to nipple ring. At one point the crush at the finger food was so great the glitterati feared a ding-dong over the goujons between Dame Joan Collins and Sinitta.
Yes, Queerguru are up to the gussets in panto season. If you are one of our global audience and not familiar with the sophisticated nuances of British panto then click through to the sticky summary we gave in yesterday’s review of the filthy fun of Tinderella (HERE). That show left us feeling dirty, in a good way.
Tonight we were back and ready, freshly showered, inside and out. This time it was to see what those wayward gays have done to everyone’s favourite, Sleeping Beauty (fingers crossed they have done it with a little more consent than the original tale implied).
If you are a panto aficionado you know that the storyline is like a Xmas tree, the baubles are more important than what it’s hanging from. However, broadly the tale is about the beautiful Prince Arry, (Tom Mann) who has his kingdom of Slutvia stolen from him by the wicked Prince Camembert (Chris Lane). Cursed at birth Arry cannot have a manly sword cleft his virginal scabbard until his 21st birthday, or else he will perish. On the eve of his 21st birthday, Camembert tricks Arry into a little premature swordplay with the alien hotty Zupp (Myles Hart). The curse of a 100-year sleep is invoked instead of death. Meanwhile, Arry’s mother, the Slut Queen Gertrude (Matthew Baldwin), after the demise of her beloved husband is lonely, bereft, a heart with a ready hole to fill, yearning for someone to plug her gap.
It’s pantomime so the success of the whole thing hangs off the casting of the Dame, Queen Gertrude. Pants down, nobody lets loose their inner hooker like Baldwin does. From the arch of the eyebrow to the turn of the heel, Baldwin reels in the audience like fish on a salmon farm. Clad in satirical satin explosions (costumes by Sandy Lloyd and Robert Draper) the majesty in their performance is that it’s so underplayed that the audience gags willingly on the bait. All hail the queen.
Full of the traditional elements of panto, without being wholly reliant on them, Sleeping Beauty Takes A Prick is a romping bawdy treat for double entendre connoisseurs. The songs are funny, the sets are ridiculous and the cast shove everything they’ve got into it. It’s a foot-tapping, thigh-slapping stocking filler.
Queerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA and cultural STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day”
PS You may also like to check out Queerguru’s interview with Slut Queen Gertrude https://queerguru.com/queer-actor-performer-matthew-baldwin-talks-about-getting-paid-to-be-an-evil-queen-and-much-more/
