Sinbad the Sailor
Thursday, January 17th, 2008I know, I know: Yorkshire is full of York pantomime bores - from the Effington Young Farmers to the Chuffington Girl Guides who get up a coach party every year, the whole county resounds to “Have you seen the panto yet” from December to the end of January, and the jostling of competitive early bookers to see who booked in March and where they were in the queue.
But, for all you out there who maybe don’t live within easy distance of York, or who have never heard of Berwick Kaler, you are missing maybe one of the last great British pantomime Dames as (s)he comes towards the end of a glittering career. This is true panto - there are no soap stars milking their z list fame - but a cast of actors (m/f) who have got together for over 20 years at York Theatre Royal and have produced a pantomime which has all the traditional elements, even the vestiges of a traditional plot, and a water scene, and custard pies, and a baddy, and a dame, and a “buttons”, and a principal boy and a female lead who epitomise young love at first sight. The audience, which is well over 50% grown-ups, boos the baddy as soon as he appears, sings the song with gusto, cries out for the traditional distribution of Wagon Wheels, and obligingly yells “Behind you” or “Oh yes he is” at all the right places.
I’ve never worked out which of the ad libs (and it’s really only the Dame who is allowed to do them) are truly ad lib, but the sight of some other cast member being reduced to giggles by sheer anarchy with the script is an annual delight. Berwick Kaler as the Dame must surely go down as one of the greats (he writes the script too) and the partnership with Martin Barrass (”Buttons”), David Leonard (the baddy) and Suzie Cooper (female lead- except this year - maternity leave) produces an annual triumph. It’s a York institution. Every year, as the lights go down, the glitter ball high above the auditorium spins, and the band strikes up with “We’re all babbies, we’re all bairns” I settle back in my seat knowing I’m going to spend the next two hours in utter enjoyment.
[OK Berwick - does that earn me a bottle of Newcy Brown?]