THEATRE REVIEW: Cinderella 2: I Married A Numpty

It’s been a long time since I’ve been at the panto, but I don’t remember them being as fun as Cinderella 2: I married a Numpty, written and directed by Morag Fullerton at Òran Mór.

It’s an hour long show with a pie and a pint (or vegan pastry and other drink) thrown in.

Cinderella is in a pickle, she’s married a prince and he’s a posh prat. Being royalty is just not as great as she expected. She’s a girl from below the stairs at heart, and – to boot – she’s still in love with Buttheid, the boy she left behind in the schemes. Buttheid and Charming are both played by Kevin Lennon.

All the performances have great energy and humour, especially Hannah Howie as the beautiful, all-singing and dancing Cinderella in gorgeous costumes.

George Drennan’s Auntie Etta Dick (boom boom) has particularly good rapport with the audience, chatting freely with them, and his character also has short, entertaining comic interludes during the play making fun of current events in a fairly safe way – mockery of Boris rather than anything too divisive (he doesn’t even go hard on him).

The music deserves a special mention – it’s glorious. Songs adapted from Grease, the Rocky Horror Show, and other hits. Hard to choose a best one but ‘I am a wummin’ is a candidate.

The script is peppered with great cracks and jokes which land. It doesn’t go too far into the crude, just a couple of jokes. This panto’s emphasis is on having fun and being light-hearted.

It plays with the idea of Cinders being a common lass who embarrasses the prince with her low manners and chatter – cue cracks and performances making the most of the differences between toffs and Glaswegians, and great play with accents from the cast. With even an American/Glesga accent coming in when Cinders is hilariously transformed into Wonder Woman to rescue her man.

The villain is one of the ugly sisters – Thunderthighs/wan-toothed Winnie – who’s gone for a makeover and now calls herself Desiree (played wonderfully by Clare Waugh). Wan-Tooth is a maneater and she’s after the Prince. Charming is also a bit of a villain, keeping Cinders trapped in the castle so she doesn’t embarrass the Royal Family.

This is how you do panto.

Cinderella 2: I Married a Numpty has performances daily at noon and at 2pm and it runs until 31st December.