Mark Newnham

Pantomimes have the potential to be uniquely excruciating. Children are merciless critics, and decades of expectation weigh heavily on poor productions. Such is the genre’s status in British popular culture that it is very difficult for any show to achieve mass appeal – it must be original enough to set itself apart from hundreds of other pantomimes, yet inclusive enough to appeal to several generations of families. What makes Sleeping Trees’ reprisal of Cinderella and the Beanstalk so wonderful is that it doesn’t centre on celebrity performers, topical jokes or endless double entendres. Rather we are treated to three highly talented comic actors both subverting and celebrating the genre, with uproariously funny results.