Sleeping with Beauty: One Little Prick review

Adult pantomimes can be hit or miss: they’re a balancing act between knowing your audience and choosing a cast with strong improvisational skills to manage the most boisterous or vocal audiences. This one, directed by Robert McWhir, delivers on both points as the filthy jokes come thick and fast, along with lively dance routines, lots of audience participation and a bawdy reworking of familiar songs.

Charlie Mackay confidently takes on the role of court jester Hamilton, corralling the audience and demonstrating some agile dance moves. Mike Newman is a quick-witted old-school dame, while Zak Marx is on point as the sex-mad Rose, the Sleeping Beauty of the title. In a fun twist to the 100-year gap in the story, our hero Rose awakes in the middle of a production of Jack and the Beanstalk. There’s even a brief voiceover from panto veteran Christopher Biggins as the Giant.

There’s a good mix of tunes, with the highlight a pastiche of One Day More from Les Misérables, complete with flag-waving and close harmonies. Leonard Hatter and Pedro El Toro’s book is a little ropey in places, but Justine Marie Mead as the Fairy and Jake Harvey as the evil Maleficent compensate, with tongue-in-cheek delivery and a great rapport with the audience.