Review : Beauty and The Beast Pantomime at St Helens Theatre Royal

2020 has been a rough year for so many industries. Theatres in particular have been hit really hard since they had to shut their doors during the first lockdown. Our own disappointment over having shows cancelled paled into insignificance when you consider the devastating affect it was had, and is still having, on people’s livelihoods.

From our own point of view, we’ve really missed our family trips to the theatre. We were therefore delighted to hear St Helens Royal was able to host their traditional festive panto, albeit with a few differences.

Safety First

While most of the north west was plunged into tier 3, St Helens was placed into tier 2 and so the Theatre Royal was able to go ahead with this years production of Beauty And The Beast. There were various safety measures in place as you would expect in the current climate.

There were no mass gatherings in the theatre’s foyer as the staff on the door limited the amount of people entering at any one time. There was a one way system running throughout the theatre and there was hand sanitiser available throughout. Masks were to be worn by adults within the theatre at all times, including by the staff. Children didn’t need to wear masks but of course were welcome to if they wanted.

Within the seating area social distancing was observed. There was nobody seated in front or behind us, nor to the seats immediately next to us. We were seated at one aisle while another family was seated on the same row but the complete opposite end. It was actually quite nice to have a bit of room!

We felt perfectly safe and found all the audience observed the rules and staff were on hand to help where necessary. You could also order food and drinks online and have them delivered to your seat to prevent unnecessary movement throughout the theatre.

The Show

We love a good panto during the festive season and we know St Helens Theatre Royal never disappoints. We’ve watched various shows at the Theatre Royal, including the Wizard Of Oz last year, and we’ve always had a brilliant time.

The show tells the traditional tale of Beauty and the Beast with the usual pantomime twist. There were a few familiar faces within the cast if you’ve seen shows at the Theatre Royal before.

Pantomimes we’ve seen in the past often have a lot of current references and this show was no different. The writer, Liam Mellor, didn’t shy away from mentioning the virus; in fact it had a starring role! Scott Gallagher was brilliant in his role of French Frank, the Royal COVID Officer with his love for spraying sanitiser. There were plenty topical references throughout the production including jokes about social distancing and hand-washing. It provided many lighthearted moments for what can be quite a sombre topic.

There were laughs aplenty as you would expect from a pantomime. The titular characters were played brilliantly by Olivia Sloyan (Belle) and Andrew Geater (the Beast) and I particularly loved the extremely northern Fairy Rose, wonderfully portrayed by Jenna Sian O’Hara. Jamie Greer’s Potty Polly provided plenty of comedic moments and no panto is complete without a baddie to boo and hiss at, and Abigail Middleton was perfect as evil Madame Botox. However for us it was Tim Lucas as Gaston who stole the show. His swaggering arrogance provided plenty of laughs, from both the adults and children in the audience.

The show produced the usual hilarity and chaos you would expect from a pantomime, and it was lovely to see the cast so clearly enjoying being back on stage.

We loved every second of it, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Update : January 2021.

If there’s one thing the pandemic has shown, it’s you just can’t take anything for granted. No sooner were we gifted the joy of live theatre, it was cruelly taken away from us with the implementation of new restrictions. As the whole country was place in national lockdown, the theatre had to again shut its doors.

However you can still see this brilliant pantomime, this time from the comfort of your own home! Until the end of January you can live stream the performance directly from the theatre, at a cost of just £20 per device. It’s a great way of helping out the theatre in these difficult times, whilst also enjoying what really is a brilliant treat for the whole family.

We were offered complimentary tickets but as always, opinions are my own.