A Hackney Empire production
Mother Goose
Written and Directed by Hackney Empire Associate Director Susie McKenna
Starring Clive Rowe and Sharon D Clarke
Celebrating Hackney Empire’s 10th Anniversary as London’s leading pantomime producer
Composed and Musically Directed by Stephen Edis
Choreographed by Carl Parris
Set and Costume Designs by Lotte Colette
Lighting Design by David W Kidd
Sound Design by Paul Gavin
Creatures Designed by Scott Brooker
Produced by Simon Thomsett
4 December 2008 – 10 January 2008
 ary Couzens
A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!
This big, splashy panto had potential audience members from O.A.P. to infant school queuing up for tickets in the cold, as evidenced both by the mixed age crowd waiting outside the theatre beforehand and all the cheering from the younger contingent in the stalls whenever their schools were mentioned by Mother Goose, a.k.a. Clive Rowe.
This Mother Goose seems to borrow liberally from the Disney film Toy Story, though in reality, it’s more than likely, the other way round, though the panto is set in Hackneytopia and Dalstonia! Everyone who’s even remotely recognisable from fairytales or nursery rhymes, such as Old King Cole, Little Boo Peep, Puss in Boots, Jack and Jill (Prince and Princess Jack and Jill in this production) and the Gingerbread Man makes up its cast of characters, along with Mother Goose’s son Billy (Silly Billy) and a pair of bumblers named Baron Bonkers and Frightening Freda who are out to steal the golden goose, Priscilla’s invaluable eggs. There are sight gags and ‘It’s Behind You’ moments ample enough to keep panto purists and newcomers alike shouting through their sweets, and adults as well as children could be heard crying out at all the appropriate moments. Audience interaction is furthered when Mother Goose grants an ‘audience’ to the audience by mingling among them and asking the odd adult, (the audience was mostly children when we were there) what they do for a living and such like, randomly handing out sweets along the way.
Clive Rowe’s Mother Goose is a sassy, jibing ole gal that even Dame Edna would approve of, with gaudy gowns, outrageous hats and girl power turned up well past eleven plus. Rowe’s marvellously attuned musical theatre experience stands him in good stead here, as does his way with lines, and punch-lines, though most of the script’s jokes are of the usual cringe worthy Christmas cracker variety. Likewise, all of the other actors also obviously enjoy playing their characters so much that even watching them makes fun seem infectious! As the diva of the piece a.k.a. ‘good witch’ Charity, Sharon D. Clark belts her numbers out, wowing the crowd with her impressive vocal range in the process, adding soul aplenty and so much more. In true Wizard of Oz tradition, where ever there’s a good witch, there has to be a bad one as well, and Susie McKenna makes a fine job of playing Charity’s sister Vanity, with some show-stopping numbers of her own. Ever a softie towards our feathered friends, my favourite non-human character was Priscilla the Goose, played with great lady-like grace by Alix Ross. Whenever Priscilla opened her mouth to speak, a sparkly little sound was made by the band, that everyone in Mother Goose’s domain could comprehend and repeat what she’d said for the benefit of the audience.
There are also some very funny double acts going on here, such as Rowe as Mother Goose and Tony Whittle as Baron Bonkers whose potentially intimate scene together made little sense word-wise, but was nevertheless hilarious, with it’s droll reflections on W.C. Fields and Mae West in My Little Chickadee. Whittle actually refers to Mother Goose as ‘my little chickadee’ during the scene in what sounds like an attempt to mimic Fields. Another very comic coupling is the pairing of friends Silly Billy (Kat B) and ‘Prince’ Jack, (Matt Dempsey) as the two play-off of one another beautifully, with B’s post-man Billy literally bumping against Dempsey’s upper crust Jack with very entertaining and well received results. Last but not least was Temeka Empson as Frightening Freda, who got more mileage out of the word ‘innit’ then sense would normally allow. In all of her scenes, Empson interacted very well with her fellow players, always garnering laughs.
Set wise, this panto is a candy coloured dream, with its lively fairground complete with rotating carousel and ferris wheel, the latter of which is illuminated and it’s scary woods where even the trees have eyes. As most of the sets are painted on material, they are easily and quietly changed and the effects are very effective indeed. The various colours of the sets also seem to complement the outfits, for example, in one scene in which both witches wear different shades of purple with a contrasting background, while Mother Goose always seems to steal the show in crayon colours. As Lotte Collett was the visionary behind both costumes and sets for this show, she deserves at least a couple of Priscilla’s golden eggs.
The show’s songs are a mixed bag, like its script’s social and cultural references, and range from contemporary soul to classic R and B numbers from various eras, like Jackie Wilson’s 1960’s hit ‘Higher and Higher,’ which is used for the panto’s uplifting conclusion, during which the six piece band, as in the rest of this upbeat show, really rises to the occasion.
Having indulged in this delectable panto, all I can say is, ‘once upon a time’ was never as much fun as Hackney Empire’s rollicking, 10th Anniversary production of Mother Goose!
Sharon D Clark as Charity and Clive Rowe as Mother Goose
Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London, E8 1EJ
Mother Goose 29th November 2008 - 10th January 2009
Box Office 020 8985 2424 www.hackneyempire.co.uk
Tickets £21.50 - £9 (+ concs and group discounts)
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