January 14th, 2008
UPDATE: Tickets go on sale for the 2009/10 Berwick Kaler Pantomime. More Info Here
January 2008. Well it had to be done. We went off to Panto last night to see Sinbad the Sailor at the Theatre Royal York. What a surprise it turned out to be. The Times and Gaurdian both recommend it as one of five things everyone in the UK must go and see this winter and we would wholeheartedly agree. Fantastic throughout. Great cast, great humour, great production sets, great music, great lighting and a great Theatre.
We arrived early to pick our tickets up and both the box office area and bar were packed full. We didn’t see many kids around so assumed they must have already taken their seats. We ordered a couple of drinks at the bar and our round came to less than £6 which for a theatre is very good going indeed. We headed through into the theatre and the first things we noticed was just how much leg room you actually had. Our last Theatre experience was in the West End where your knees are normally up against the chair in front. Here though you could stretch out. Looking around we couldn’t see many kids and realised that this pantomime clearly had a large following of adults who had been coming back year after year to see the Berwick Kaler pantomime; probably since some where kids themselves.
We realised why as soon as the show started and couldn’t help but smile from the outset. Professional, fast faced and funny throughout. We loved it and threw ourselves into the fun from the start. There were rumours of a plot, but that didn’t get in the way of very topical humour and good old slapstick.
Written by Berwick Kaler, Directed by Berwick Kaler and Damian Cruden, Music by Rob Thorne Jr, Designed by Phil R Daniels and Charles Cusick Smith, Lighting design by Richard G Jones. Starring Berwick Kaler, Martin Barrass, Vincent Gray, Julie-Anna Castro, Sian Howard, Michael Joseph and David Leonard.
We will definitely be booking next year to catch up on the next Berwick Kaler pantomime. Sinbad the Sailor runs till the 2nd Feb this year, so if you can go see it and remember to pick a Programme up which is sold for only £1! A steal when compared to the usual £10 price in London.
Score: 5 Stars. Outstanding. Visited January 2008.
Posted in Arts and Entertainment