REVIEW | The Foreigners' Panto, BOLD Theatre

13 Oct

`The Foreigners' Panto - photo by Lidia Crisafulli`

Written by Penny

*Disclaimer - gifted tickets in return for an honest review.

Panto in October? Surely not, it’s far too early, right? Well apparently, “Oh no it isn’t”. This new play from Shani Erez (who also directs alongside Marianne Badrichani and Sarah Goddard) with music from Tomer Run sees a community theatre group made up of immigrants, who have decided to stage a traditional British panto, embracing all that it means to be British (or Britaimmese, as they say in the play within the play).

The idea is a really good one – what better way to demonstrate your love for the UK than by throwing yourself into one of the most quintessentially British cultural forms that we have to offer? However, the script and performance unfortunately do not live up to this promising idea.

The set is very basic but perfectly effective – simple cardboard scenery depicts “Londom” (why Londom, it isn’t clear?) and the homes of Dame Foreign and Lord Villain – you don’t have to work too hard to figure out who the baddy is! The costumes are also simple but appropriate – our villain has a certain flamboyance to his wardrobe, whilst his son and our principal boy, Benedict Cumberbatch, played with confident charm by Suzy Kohane, tries a variety of costumes in an attempt to find the one that will perfectly sum up a typical British romantic hero – is it a footballer, Shakespeare or Harry Potter?! With some simple costume changes, we get a decent running gag with each new scene.

There is a real art to performing panto – it’s over the top, unashamedly camp and audience interaction and participation are key to its success. Unfortunately, as this was supposed to be a company of actors who don’t really understand the panto style, a lot of the humour was lost, or as Dame Foreign repeatedly hammered home every time she delivered a punchline in jumbled English, “lost in translation”. The cast members generally did not convince as actors performing a play within a play, they just came across as under-rehearsed and uncomfortable. The exception to this was Vikash Bhai as Lord Villain, who gave us evil laughs and plans aplenty, with a hilarious bewilderment as to why the audience was booing him.

As Dame Foreign, Fabrizio Matteini has good stage presence and some enjoyable moments, sparring well with love interest John Constable, played by Gabriel Paul. However, Matteini is a little hesitant in his audience interactions, at times seeming almost apologetic in asking people to join in, rather than fully throwing himself into the chaos of being a classic Dame character.

Towards the end of the first act, the plight of the fictional “Foreign” family becomes all too real, as Aliyah Roberts who plays young love interest Zara is distracted by a phone call. Her housemate has sent over to the theatre a letter from the Home Office containing the decision on her right to remain in the UK. Once she receives the news, her castmates try to cover as she goes to her dressing room to take it all in, ultimately deciding they all need a break. This shifts the narrative into more political content, but the preamble of the first act has been too long without any particularly original or hard-hitting comment on the realities of being an immigrant in this government’s “hostile environment”, so it all feels a bit too little, too late.

Ultimately, this promising idea is let down by its execution. The musical numbers don’t add anything, with some weak singing in places and poor diction meaning that rap sections are lost. A lot of the time it feels as if some of the cast members are just marking it rather than throwing themselves into the performance. I assume this is a device to remind us that the actors are playing amateur actors, but it doesn’t inspire confidence and I don’t think it’s necessary.

The Foreigners’ Panto is a good and timely idea, but one that could do with some more work on the book and staging if it is to enjoy a life beyond its current run.

The Foreigners’ Panto runs at Bold Theatre until Saturday 28th October (Thursdays – Saturdays at 7.30pm with Saturday matinee at 2.30pm)