Cinderella: A Socially Distanced Ball Review, filmed at the Turbine Theatre
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| Source: Cinderella Online | The Turbine Theatre |
But it's just what we need after the shit-show year we've had.
I will just get this out of the way, Cinderella: A Socially Distanced Ball is NOT for kids.... It's filthy, it's over-the-top, it's camp.
But it's an adult pantomime set in Soho - what would you expect!
But it's an adult pantomime set in Soho - what would you expect!
This Socially Distanced Ball was running at the Turbine Theatre for a couple of weeks before London got smacked with Tier 3 restrictions. (Join the club love, we've had that up North for months now!). But thankfully, to everyone's delight, like RENT, they had already planned to film the show and send it out online! Before London was put into Tier 3, I was gutted I wasn't going to be able to see this (along with seeing the Les Mis concert that would have been "Meeting Theatre-Tribe in Person Attempt 2") - so the announcement left me very happy indeed.
What attracted me to this was not only the talent on-stage, but also off stage. Directing is Lizzy Connelly (Oklahoma at the Proms), but also, the two talented so-and-sos in the writers chairs are Neil Hurst and the one and only Jodie Prenger (Tell Me On A Sunday) - one of my personal heroes!
With someone like Jodie co-writing, I knew this was going to make me laugh. And it did. With jokes and innuendos everywhere. But quite a bit dirtier than what you would expect to see on Bake Off...
And delivering this brilliant writing is a cast of six (F*** the rule of six) who you can tell are having the time of their lives. Sean Parkins as the Fairy Godmother-f***er is on first, taking us "by the sanitised hand" into a chorus of Pippin's Magic To Do with the upmost sass.
Daisy Wood-Davis (Hair) as Cinderella is sweet with a thick cockney accent, while Rufus Hound (The Wind in the Willows) is adorable as Buttons. He always brightens up the stage whatever show I see him in - I would love to see him in another panto, whether or not you have to shout "F*** THE TORIES" when comes on stage. While I am writing this, the Press Conference announcing Tier 4 (dun dun duuun) is happening - and his ending song is going round my head.... "Boris Go, Boris Go, Boris Go".
Debbie Kurup (Anything Goes) is in drag personifying the Purple Rain singer in her version of Prince Charming; but if you've seen it, you will agree that the ones who steal the show are Scott Paige (Eugenuis!) and Oscar Conlon-Morrey (First Date) as the Ugly Stepsisters Fanny and Vajayjay. These two in particular had the filthiest lines and you could tell that they were having a ball (a socially distanced one 😆).
But also, what is a panto without a few tunes and there are many that a theatre-goer should recognise: I've already mentioned Pippin, but there's also Hamilton, Waitress, an audience pariticpation song from Mary Poppins and a SIX finale. But the one that made the happiest was a re-written Me Party from The Muppets for Cinderella to sing! And they used the theme from The Muppet Show during one of the scene changes (think it was the one when it got stuck, which makes that an even more perfect song choice in my opinion). As a HUGE Muppets fan, I was a very happy bunny indeed!
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| Source: The Turbine Theatre (@turbinetheatre) • Instagram photos and videos |
It's a short piece, only just over an hour long, and it's available to watch right up until 1st Jan with as many views as you want with the link you're given (at least I think so...).
To get your streaming passes for Cinderella, you can get them here on the Turbine Theatre's website: Whats On | The Turbine Theatre or through the Theatre Cafe: Events @ The Theatre Café - The Theatre Cafe
If you think about it, this is what the British does best: take a terrible year and celebrate it by taking the absolute piss out of it!
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