It's interesting to note the effect that individual writers can — or indeed cannot — have on the behemoth that is pantomime.
Award-winning playwright Tom Wells, whose latest drama opened around the corner at the Bush Theatre last week, brings his trademark gentle whimsy to bear on this year’s Lyric extravaganza and, for a while at least, it’s a success.
Wells favours characterisation over plot here, which is no bad thing given that Jack, both the boy and the show itself, often gets fatally stuck up the beanstalk midway through the second half. That doesn’t happen here but there is a rather desultory handling of the necessary plot points that increasingly, rather disappointingly, spreads to the characters themselves.
An evil giant and his henchman have stolen all the hospitals and libraries from Hammersmith. Boo! Luckily Jack, who’s a girl, and Jill, a boy, are on hand to right wrongs, along with their cheery-chappie-audience-entertainer friend Sprout (Steven Webb, doing very nicely). Dan Herd’s production is jolly enough, although there’s a somewhat effortful conjoining of perennial panto parts. What’s lacking is the riotous fizz and sparkle of the best seasonal offerings.
Jack and the Beanstalk runs until January 4 (020 8741 6850, lyric.co.uk
