Once again, another spectacular performance of Cinderella. From the very beginning there’s hilarious comedy, audience interaction, Scottish jokes and local colloquialisms. Gregor Fisher and Tony Roper, also known as Rab C Nesbitt and Jamesie, play the ugly stepsisters and keep the mums and dads in the audience involved in the panto as well as the children.
Gillian Ford as Cinderella is slightly too loud when singing her solos, leaving a slight ringing in your eardrums, and at points her dance moves seem limited to “a step to the right, a step to the left, and clap” but overall, she plays the part of lovely, kind Cinderella to a T.
Des Clarke plays Buttons in this version of Cinderella and performs various stand-up-comedy routines that have nothing to do with Cinderella but make the show a smash hit. Des never fails to make the audience laugh with his punchy one-liners and witty jokes, and joins in various eye-wateringly funny skits throughout the show with Dandini (River City’s Gary Lamont) and the ugly step-sisters.
Audience interaction is outstanding. A particular highlight is when the actors get a young girl up on stage to help save Cinderella from the ugly step-sisters so that she could try on the glass slipper. The ugly-sister duo make one of the best parts of the pantomime. Their extravagant and outlandish costumes never fail to surprise with them arriving at the ball to the sounds of Beyoncé, dressed as a greenhouse and a fireplace!
At the end, they do their usual shoutouts to people sitting in the audience. There are probably too many and because of this Des rushes them. But overall, Cinderella makes a perfect family outing for Christmas.