Enter into ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ at Darlington Hippodrome Theatre to be enthralled by the production of the pantomime, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. The beautifully restored Edwardian theatre was an ideal setting for the production as it seemed to connect the performers with the audience.
This performance was a matinee. There were so many schoolchildren ranging from tiny tots to those from secondary school, some even wearing Christmas jumpers. They were determined to enjoy themselves and they certainly did as one of the main things that I took from this performance was the spontaneous audience participation. It wasn’t just from children. There was large group of much older ladies sitting together who seemed to have as much fun as the children.
Circus extravaganza
This pantomime was staged as a sensational circus extravaganza. There were the usual pantomime characters. Goldilocks, Taziva-Faye Katsande, has a lively singing voice and entertaining manner. She and her ‘mother’ Dame Betty Barnum, played by Jamie Jones are owners of the circus. The circus is struggling so badly that they had to get rid of staff and even ‘the human cannon ball got fired.’ That one liner is typical of the sparky humour throughout the show, mainly delivered by Joey, the clown played brilliantly by Josh Benson. Then we have the villain, Baron Von Bolshoi played by the extraordinary dancer, Brendan Cole, who sneered and evilly smiled so as to raise many ‘boos’ from the audience. The baron is out to destroy the Barnum Circus so that his rival circus could thrive.
The three bears
The three bears enter the plot by stealing the small amount of money the circus still has from an empty honey pot which the bears mistakenly think is honey. They are followed back to their cottage by Goldilocks, Dame Betty and Joey where the tale of porridge, a broken chair and sleeping in the beds is woven into the pantomime during a musical routine.
However, the three bears would save the circus from ruin because Baby Bear, Jessica Daugirda, was a magnificent tap dancer, even wearing what looked like clunky shoes over her large bear feet. Goldilocks and Dame Betty are delighted but Joey is a bit disappointed because he wanted to be the star of the show performing his high wire act so that Goldilocks would fall in love with him as much as he loved her.
The evil baron decides to kidnap Baby Bear so that he could ruin the Barnum Circus but as Joey gets to do his high wire act, he comes up with the plan to kidnap daddy and mammy bear too. The evil baron has already posed as an officer from the RSCPB, the Royal Society for the Protection of Bears, so it not surprising that he cruelly puts the bears into a beast cage, a cage where animals were kept in the days when wild animals were allowed to perform in circuses. Goldilocks’s plan to divert the baron’s attention works. The bears are released and performing lions in the cruel baron’s circus have also been released, so they push the Baron into the beast cage and he, to the delight of the audience, is wheeled off the stage.
The band and costumes
The band, of keyboard Tim Hammond, bass guitar Peter Brent and drums Tim Farmer was magnificent, playing music ranging from 42nd Street to ‘Hot Stuff’ with a sprinkling of ‘Come Dancing’ and ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ really enlivened the creatively choregraphed and expertly performed dance routines, including the skills of Brendan Cole. One amusing touch was from the bears when locked in their beast cage who brandished cards with “7” written on them as Brendan danced.
The costumes were spectacular. I understand that Jamie’s costumes, when playing the Dame are usually designed and made by himself but on this occasion, he had been lucky enough to borrow the costumes worn by Julian Clary’s 2019 performance in “Goldilocks.”
The juggler Gordon Marquez was unbelievable as he even somehow managed to juggle small tangerine-like balls with his mouth whilst performing to a background of Latin American Rock music.
Jokes and audience participation
Joey’s jokes were silly but extremely humorous. “What is a belt made of watches called? A waste of time. What does a hospice do? About two gallons.” These went beyond Christmas crackers. My husband, nurtured by the ‘Beano’, along with the audience were splitting their sides with laughter.
Audience participation was the best that I have ever experienced in a pantomime. Of course, there were the usual ‘Oh no it isn’t’ followed by ‘Oh yes it is’, but the performance of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” by The Baron, the Dame, Joey the Clown and Goldilocks was hilarious. Joey had two super-chargers primed with water that he sprayed on the audience, mainly on children leading to screams of delight. The five juggling balls were cast into the audience and Brendan Cole, the evil baron set off on a rampage to retrieve them amongst the audience, much to the delight of those who were fans of ‘Come Dancing.”
Animals, giraffes, hippos, zebras, lions had featured during the performance so three children were invited onto the stage by Joey to a humorous rendition of ‘Old Macdonald’s Farm.” The children did remarkably well, aided by brilliant ad-libbing from Joey.
The whole production of the lighting, music, costumes, dancing and cast members performances combined made “Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ a first-class entertainment enjoyed by all, listening to the comments and looking at the faces as the audience left the theatre.
