Slick panto plays for laughs

DICK WHITTINGTON, Opera House, Mannchester, to January 5
PANTO above all has the capacity to make family audiences laugh out loud with unexpected fun - even one as tightly scripted, slickly directed and glossily set as this one.

In this show laughs came from Sammy the Snake (remember Peter Kay’s brilliant “Phoenix Nights”), here masquerading as a giant sausage in an hilarious baking scene.

Then there was Eric Potts (of blessed Coliseum memory) in a sparkly green bikini: an image that could give audiences nightmares for years to come.

And there was another strong comedy song - a feature of this run of pantos - in which Potts, Tam Ryan (Idle Jack), Ben Goffe as the ship’s captain, hard-working fairy Jodie Prenger and Dick - Ben Faulks - repeated the simple words and actions and went perilously close to braining the person standing next to them.

And finally there was the sad confession of songsheet victim Joseph (8), who revealed that he and a girl friend had broken up that very morning — but not to worry, Tam, because he’s over her now.

Potts — as dame, writer and director — again cuts much of the singing and dancing in favour of terrific fun and silliness — except with lots more money to play with.

He underplays his familiar role as comedy driver in favour of Ryan, now in his fourth year as Opera House panto comedian and still a long way from outstaying his welcome. Ryan’s energy and good-hearted rapport with children and adults alike has been a tremendous find, and he’s darned funny without apparently trying.

Of the rest, the theatre goes for currently popular names to draw in undecideds: Ashleigh and Pudsey the dog are sweet but ineffectual, Ben Faulks from children’s TV likewise (though not so sweet) and it’s left to Ben Goffe as Titan, the ship’s captain — all 3ft 6in of him — to engage most among the supporting cast, especially when street-dancing. The show also has a terrific 3D undersea film section (you get free glasses) and boasts all the lighting, sound and set superlatives money can provide.

I wouldn’t say this was quite the Opera House’s best panto yet, but it is certainly right up there in the top three or four.

Can’t get into the Coliseum? You’ll pay more here, but it’s money well spent.