Vanessa Macdonald reviews two of this year’s pantos in the absence of Times of Malta critic André Delicata

Sleeping Beauty

It says a lot about a panto when the only thing you can criticise on your way out of Valletta is whether using the EastEnders theme is a bit outdated.

The panto tradition is deeply rooted in us, starting with our first impressionable impressions as children, when we knew without being prompted who was good and who was bad. Our parents, in the meantime, were kept amused by the innuendo and satire, which was sadly lacking in any other genre.

It doesn’t really matter which fairy tale a drama company takes on: they are all based on the same themes of good and bad. Edward Mercieca had all the elements in place when he started writing Sleeping Beauty, and I can imagine him sitting there all through the year, jotting down things to work into the script, from an utterly hilarious World Cup scene to a more obscure reference to too much pizza before marriage, and from Maltapost non-existent customer care to the must-have politics.

Mercieca has been getting into one ridiculous costume after another as the Dame - for many years - but I am sure even he had a giggle when he saw some of the ones he had to don as Nanna Kola. Josephine Mifsud clearly had a ball (pun intended), and Denise Mulholland backed up the Dame costumes with ones for the rest of the cast that were elegant and coordinated where they needed to be, evil at first sight when that was called for, and eye-candy when appropriate.

It doesn’t really matter which fairy tale a drama company takes on: they are all based on the same themes of good and bad

The Manoel Theatre does not have the frustrating staging limitations of the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali, and one gorgeous backdrop after another could be used, with Marco Bartolo creating everything from forest utopia and spooky dungeons to a bleak futuristic Malta reminiscent of Steve Bonello’s cartoons. It is always interesting to see how the standard storyline can be diverted to other scenes like the latter, giving the creators a chance to let their imaginations run wild.

The flashes and smoke and riffs made each entrance eyebrow-raising, and the audience participation parts were hilariously-choreographed.

It was also interesting to see that FM Theatre Productions used the panto as a platform to get environmental messages across, focusing on plastic and waste, not to mention the unsustainability of the construction frenzy.

The performances were all of a very high standard, which is in no small part due to the script which gave almost every character something to work with. Not everything worked: the Gozo fairy’s frequent references to Australia fell a little flat, the Sybil complication was not completely necessary, and perhaps the flying was overused (if such a thing is possible!).

The irrepressible Chiara Hyzler as Muddles was the perfect complement to Nanna Kola, while Tezara Camilleri as Maleficent had a marvellous stage presence, with the lurking Korr and Zjoni (yes, now you got it!) getting in the way. Raquel Theuma as Princess Aurora (I got the Astra joke a heartbeat later…) and Gianni Selvaggi as Prince Charming worked very well together and added the sweetness needed at the heart of every panto. The fairies – Antonella Mifsud, Nicole Cassar and Maria Cassar – took on the social class roles – often taken on by the Dame – with a panache that Comedy Knights would have been proud of.

Sleeping Beauty managed to pack a whole lot of entertainment into three hours, half-an-hour shorter than most. For this particular show, I have to say that I actually did not want it to end…

Sleeping Beauty is being staged at the Manoel on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 3 and 8pm, Friday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm.

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Beans fall on unfertile ground

Jack and the Beanstalk

There could be no better tribute to the enduring tradition of MADC panto than celebrating the one millionth person to buy a ticket since its first edition four decades ago.

I am not sure that being dragged on to stage was quite in Jeffrey the winner’s plans when he went to MFCC but he was enough of a sport to give his performance plenty of energy.

And this was one thing this performance as a whole managed to achieve. The people on stage were having fun, which is always infectious.

The narrator (Malcolm Galea – also the scriptwriter) set the tone for the constant banter with the audience from the very first scene – and it seems to have charmed the audience.

The panto format has evolved considerably over time, but certain things remain sacred, from audience participation to an over-the-top Dame.

It is never easy being an MADC Dame: for so many years, Alan Montanaro wrote pantos with this role very much in mind; Galea’s script, on the other hand, spread the love more evenly across a number of characters.

Michael Mangion’s Lady Frakassat had all the usual innuendo and crudeness but was let down by the disappointing costumes, which had plenty of colour and frills but precious little imagination. Isabelle Warrington is much more talented than this: what happened?

The villagers’ chorus also suffered from a strange transition from peasants to harem pants and back again (and don’t get me started on the Rastafarian hermit with Buddhist followers…) – which made it a thrill to see their fabulous hats lit up through the curtain before Act 2 started. What a shame for the effect to be lost the moment the scene started under full lighting!

Even the princess’s (Christina Despott) costume did little to portray her as the heroine (once she overcame her ‘nasty’ side): we may have moved on from excessively skimpy costumes but surely no need to overwhelm her with drapes and bows…

The fairy (Katherine Brown) had a delightful presence and her entrances were probably the best of the show, which otherwise had few audiovisual effects to make the audience go ‘ah’ or ‘ooh’, something which also held back the henchmen Fleshcreep (Sean Briffa) and Skincrawl (Audrey Scerri), who also had super costumes but little villainy to un-endear them with the audience.

Galea also took a somewhat unconventional approach for the chief villain Lord Lagħaqi (Joe Depasquale) – who started off well enough as the sort of greedy landlord-cum-developer that we have all come to know and hate. However – spoiler alert – the storyline made it clear from the start that he would end up as being not so bad after all. No ‘boos’ for him, then. A panto without a real villain? Hm.

The standard storyline was embellished with the inclusion of a Magic Harp, played by Rachael Tedesco Triccas, whose extraordinary voice absolutely stole the show.

And finally Jack (Matthew Ben Attard). Full disclosure: I played Jack in the 1994 version, but this was a totally different principal boy, not the swashbuckling hero but the bumbling loser who finds redemption – another of the characters that Galea tried to make less two-dimensional. He played it with gusto.

The script had a few political references – yes, Panama Papers was worked in and the giants lived in Skyzerbaijan – but far fewer than you would expect from Galea, given his excellent previous work. There were some brilliant flashes of humour, just not enough of them, given all that is going on around us.

Even the basic stagecraft was lacking at some points: the characters at the front of the stage trying to talk to the princess in a cage behind them, for example. 

When so much work and enthusiasm has gone into something, it seems so churlish to criticise it, but a lacklustre script, with lacklustre costumes and lacklustre scenery, and precious little sparkle, magic or spectacle…

So much proven talent and experience: what held them back from making this an evening to remember?

Jack and the Beanstalk is being staged at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm.