Goldilocks & the Three Bears, Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Goldilocks & the Three Bears, Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond

11:39am Friday 18th December 2009 in Leisure By Gareth Dant

Goldilocks & the Three Bears Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond FIRST the confession. I didn’t use to like pantos.

Whether it was the density of corny jokes or a long-forgotten traumatic audience participation experience, I can’t recall. Anyway, I’m cured now.

George Critchley has put together a fun show that makes the most of the Georgian’s fantastically quirky, intimate little space. The baddies – an eminently booable James Lavender and Michael Lambourne – get up close and personal with occupants of boxes nearest the stage, prompting great ad-libbing from a quick-thinking cast.

Critchley’s script puts the traditional fairytale of Goldilocks and her breaking-andentering within a circus story outlining the plight of her father’s struggling show – cue plenty of references to the credit crunch.

As a bit of a fan of The Stranglers, I was curious to see how a former lead singer, Paul Roberts, would fare in panto – it’s not exactly rock and roll, after all.

He turned in a confident performance, as did the rest of the cast, including the young performers from Stockton’s Heritage School of Dance.

Louise Willoughby carried off the part of Goldilocks with just-right sweetness, while Emmerdale’s Tony Howes made a veritable joke factory of a clown.

My only criticism relates to a technical issue. Despite radio microphones for all, one or two numbers were a bit lost (did the sound levels go haywire?), and the voices of the three bears in their furry suits were quite severely muffled throughout.

For most of the time though, audibility was fantastic, another advantage of the intimate surroundings of the Georgian. The musical accompaniment of Harold Purvis (musical director) and drummer Kyle Martin was spot on.

So, if you’re after a panto where you can get close to the action, this may be the one for you. After all, it proved the one for even this reformed panto-hater.