Theatre Review || "Cinderella" || Spotlight Theatre

Disclaimer: I was gifted a complimentary ticket for review purposes, but I did buy additional tickets for the girls! All views and opinions are my own

Photo credit: Martin Holtom

It’s official!  On Saturday, the girls and I went to Spotlight Theatre’s pantomime, “Cinderella” at the Nottingham Arts Theatre and Christmas has now begun!  (Insert “oh no it hasn’t, oh yes it has!” jokes to your heart’s content)

This year has seen Spotlight Theatre officially adopt the full production of the annual Arts Theatre panto, although a lot of the Spotlight team have been working their magic in the background for years.   We’ve been enjoying the pantomime at Nottingham Arts Theatre for almost a decade now (yes, really) and we’re about to deep dive into why that is…

Written and directed by Amanda Hall (of Amanda Hall Scripts), “Cinderella” is a truly classic production, with all the pantomime tropes and traditions that you would hope to find. One thing I always love about an Amanda Hall panto is how it stays true to the authentic panto experience.  You have plenty of hilarious gags, heaps of audience participation, uplifting and energetic musical numbers and a sprinkle of festive fun! 

The plot of “Cinderella” follows the well-loved fairy tale faithfully and is brought to life by a cast of entertaining and colourful characters. I'm going to talk about each of them in order of appearance (loosely, based on my less than spectacular memory)

As is only right, the show starts with a musical overture followed by the magical entrance of the Fairy Godmother. Played by Laura Thurman, this Fairy Godmother (or FG), was gentle and caring with just the right level of sass.  She acts as a narrator of sorts, guiding Cinderella and the audience through the story. She speaks mainly in rhyming couplets, something that she herself makes fun of often and I really enjoyed her attempts to be “down with the kids”.

I also thoroughly enjoyed her big solo number “Spotlight”, which I thought Laura sang beautifully and was the perfect end to Act 1.

The girls and I all agreed that our MVP of the show was Luca Smith as Cinderella's unlucky in love friend, Buttons. Buttons had a huge role to play in tying all of the elements of the story together, and Luca handled this with complete confidence and professionalism.  

Luca had great chemistry with all of the other characters and also led a number of the group musical numbers.  I was really impressed with Luca’s comic timing in many of Buttons’ comedy skits and she was charismatic and controlled when interacting with the audience.  This was a vital role which was performed flawlessly.

Tilly Wishart was perfectly cast as the title character “Cinderella”.  Tilly portrayed Cinderella as sweet and kind, while also giving her a backbone - something which can sometimes be missing in a panto heroine

I loved her energy and commitment to all of her musical numbers.  She made it incredibly easy to root for this lovable character and to hope she would get her happy ever after.

Every Cinderella needs a friendly animal companion, and Hemi Lewis was adorably funny as Mozerella, Cinderella’s pet mouse who recently underwent a growth spurt.  Hemi had bags of character and contributed lots of her own comedy moments.

Joe Butler was deliciously wicked as Cinderella’s stepmother, the Baroness Hardup.  Joe is such a larger-than-life performer and she expertly played the stepmother as villainous, without being too scary. She clearly loved interacting with the audience and seemed to really thrive on the boos and heckles from the kids.  

There is nothing quite like a Dame, and in “Cinderella” you get two for the price of one, with Mike Pearson and JK Smith as the Ugly Stepsisters, Wilma and Betty.  Mike and JK worked together fabulously and each complimented the other’s comedy style.  

Their hilarious double act was a great crowd pleaser. It was always fun to try and guess what wacky costume they would be wearing each time they appeared on stage and they provided many of the comedy highlights in the show.

Shantanu Bhumbra gave a modern edge to the classic fairy-tale prince, with his version of Prince Charming.  This Prince Charming had natural swagger and confidence, especially in his big musical numbers and also had great on-stage chemistry with both Cinderella and his faithful servant, Dandini.

Dandini is played by Patrick McCrystal, who has been a firm fixture of the Nottingham Arts Theatre panto for a number of years.  You’re always in safe hands with Patrick, who confidently portrays any panto role he undertakes.  His Dandini was a little stuffy ( a great contrast to the laid-back Prince), but still had plenty of great comedy lines and musical moments.

This fabulous cast is completed with an adult and children’s company.  The adult company were a talented bunch and worked hard to add colour and life to pantoland.  They produced a lovely sound in the company musical numbers, under the skillful musical direction of Patrick McCrystal. 

This may also have been the most impressive Children’s company that I’ve seen in years.  I was blown away by their energy and enthusiasm, especially in the group dances.  I didn’t spot an arm or leg out of place and their smiles never dipped for a moment.  Their excitement was completely infectious!

The dance numbers were choreographed by Charlotte Barrington and Meghan Leahy and I thought they did a fabulous job at pitching them at exactly the right level. The routines were simple enough that they could be effectively executed by dancers of all ages, but they still looked effective and made the audience want to leap up and join in (or was that just me?)

The set design (by Amanda Hall, Laura Ellis and Mike Pearson) was beautiful and really helped to set the scene of the story.  This was complemented perfectly by some visually engaging lighting work from Oliver Read.  Add this to the sound design by Rob Kettridge and projection design by College Street Technical Services and the end result was a lively, entertaining show which felt on par with professional productions.

If you’re looking for some festive family fun in Nottingham, I will always recommend Spotlight Theatre’s pantomime as your first point of call.  It is the perfect way to introduce little ones to their first panto experience, it gives you everything you could want from a traditional panto and it is also very cost-of-living friendly when compared to the larger productions.

I also love the community values behind Spotlight’s productions - it is a local performance made for local people, and it really shows in the response from the audience.

After the show, the children (and grown-ups) also have the chance to go outside and meet their favourite characters and have photographs taken, which is definitely a highlight and makes the experience all the more magical.  

“Cinderella” runs at the Nottingham Arts Theatre until the 15th December, however some dates are starting to sell out so it’s worth booking asap if you can!  Ticket info can be found on the website. 

So now my review is over,

I hope you're all still here,

I wish you a Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year!