Mother Goose is worth a gander

GOOD eggs . . . (from left) Nicole Evans, Amy Rhiannon Worth, Fine Time Fontayne and Richard Fletcher

MOTHER GOOSE, Coliseum, Oldham, by Paul Genty

Another year, another queue at the door on Saturday for the first day of sales for next year’s “Sleeping Beauty”. That’s quite a show of loyalty.

Despite changes of writers, casts and directors over the years, the Coliseum pantomime has thrived on a diet of daftness, a menu of mayhem and a fondness for old jokes and routines.

The trend continues with the current triumvirate of director Kevin Shaw, writer Eric Potts and dame, Fine Time Fontayne.

In “Mother Goose”, his second as dame, Fine Time is fast becoming a local favourite. Despite having a disconcerting look of Pam Ayres in some wigs, he is so likeable and naturally amusing that his ad-libs seem virtually unscripted and his work rate and sense of fun are unimpeachable.

This is important, because unlike some celebrity pantos, the Coliseum’s success is reliant on comedy — and the sillier the better.

Cast members are a tower of comic strength: Adonis Anthony is a brilliant baddie, his approach a sort of Johnny Depp morphed with camp Seventies spy Jason King, with horns; Patrick Bridgman displays great comic timing as the squire and local actor Richard Fletcher is a powerhouse of fun as the dumber of the Goose boys.

Even the girls‚ Nicole Evans as Jill and Amy Rhiannon Worth as Colin, are a feisty pair. And Linzi Mathews is cute as the fairy but simply adorable as goose Priscilla. The panto is well up to scratch on looks too. Designer Celia Perkins has gone to town on the storybook look — a riot of colour that could provoke blindness in the sensitive.

Opening night did show a tendency to over-egg the words at the expense of action, some of the music could have been more up-to-date and the first act was below the energy level after the interval. But if you have had your tickets for the past year, your sense of anticipation won’t be disappointed.