Mark Ludmon reviews the Royal Vauxhall Tavern’s new pantomime, Slipped: Cinderella...Rebooted
Photo: chrisjepson.com Slipped: Cinderella...Rebooted
Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London
Four stars
After taking a fabulous wrecking ball to Mother Goose and Aladdin, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern has given a queer twist to another classic panto with Slipped. Aimed very much at grown-up boys and girls, this is the Cinderella story like you’ve never seen it before. It has everything you expect from a traditional panto, from classic audience interaction and innuendo to songs and silliness, but all “rebooted” with gay abandon. Cinders defies her ugly stepmother to party at the ball but the handsome prince turns out to be more interested in what’s on her feet than the girl herself.
Photo: chrisjepson.com
Packed with jokes good and bad, the show is full of topical cultural references, and only a little politics, thanks to sharp comic writing by Tim Benzie and Paul Joseph. As with their previous pantos, not every line gets a laugh on the night but there’s always another cracker along in a moment. With musical director Joseph Shears on keyboard, more fun comes from some clever virtuoso revamps of pop hits old and new.
Photo: Chrisjepson.com
Under director Tim McArthur, the pace never lets up, with the cast bouncing off each other with mischievous chemistry. Some are familiar from previous pantos, with Faye Reeves as brilliant and fierce as ever in the roles of the Fairy “F***ing” Godmother and Buttons. The RVT’s bearded dame, Robert McNeilly, returns as a hilariously potty-mouthed Wicked Stepmother, while Rich Watkins is deliciously salacious as the prince with eyes only for Cinders’ slippers. New to the party are Grant Cartwright as a glitteringly louche Cinderella and Jim Lavender as a rather disenchanted Ugly Stepsister. Together, they make this another queer highlight of the festive season not to be missed.
Running to 8 January 2020
Mark Ludmon has been a journalist for over 20 years, specialising in writing about theatre and the arts as well as bars, pubs and drink. He has been on the theatre judging panel for London’s Olivier Awards and has a masters degree in English literature, specialising in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He has an MA in theatre research, criticism and dramaturgy from the University of London’s Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. You can find him tweeting about theatre as @MarkLudmon and writing about theatre at markludmon.com.
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