Slipped: Cinderella... Rebooted! - Royal Vauxhall Tavern - ★★★★ - Until January 8, 2020


Seriously sick of 'Secret Santa'? This Xmas, why not get the office gang together and go to the RVT's wonderfully rude and sassy panto. This is not Cinderella as you might remember her. The unexpurgated version is a lot more fun and has better shoes! From Boris Johnson and Michael Gove to "Annie" and Adele there are more pop culture references here than in Kim Kardashian's tweets. The punch lines never stop coming and just when you've gotten one gag, you realise you've missed the next one. The song parodies are all clever with singing and choreography that are first-rate. The high-energy cast left us exhausted from laughing, and, of course, from shouting the characters' catch phrases, plus warnings to our heroine. The audience is always kept involved and time flies at an amazing pace. Richard Watkins' Prince Charming was spectacularly over the top and really got things pumped up while Grant Cartwright as Cinderella was suitably coy ... not! Robert McNeilly and Jim Lavender as wicked stepmother and wicked stepsister were absolutely wicked! Still for us it was Faye Reeves as the Fairy Godmother/Buttons/etc. who stole the show. This was one seriously angry and hilarious fairy! So for a few drinks, and some adult Xmas cheer make Cinderella's ball at the RVT your go-to palace.

Reviewed by J.C.

 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until January 8, 2020
Various times available (see website below)
Royal Vauxhall Tavern
Nearest tube: Vauxhall
https://www.vauxhalltavern.com/events/event/slipped-2/?oid=2678
Map & Location: 372 Kennington Ln, Vauxhall, London SE11 5HY, UK

Latest Reviews

Stop Kiss, Above The Stag Theatre - ★★★★ - Until November 30, 2019

Image
Callie reports on the traffic from a helicopter. She is separated from the world below and from herself until she is forced to confront life and her assumptions by Sara. In contrast, the latter has taken control of her life by moving to New York City and becoming deeply engaged as a teacher of under-privileged children. Diana Son gives us a very well written and thoroughly engaging work. From the initial meeting of the two women through their developing attraction the relationship is touchingly and humorously presented. The choice of narrative technique creates a tension and a sense of foreboding that would have been lost in a more linear telling of this love story. It ensures that the audience's attention is riveted even as we know what inevitably will happen. While there is a serious political point being made here, Son wisely lets the audience draw it out, concentrating on creating plausible characters while avoiding a polemic. Suzanne Boreel as Callie gets it just right with …
Full Details »

Orphée, London Coliseum - ★★★★★ - Until November 29, 2019

Image
Once again ENO has taken on a very difficult piece, but here the nettle is firmly grasped and a mesmeric piece of music theatre results. Netia Jones' outstanding new staging of Philip Glass' 1993 opera, which is itself closely based on Jean Cocteau's 1950 film, asks us to ponder whether life is a dream and questions whether art seduces one away from real human concerns. Conductor Geoffrey Paterson gives us every nuance of the subtly expressive vocal and instrumental writing which includes musical echoes of Nadia Boulanger and Darius Milhaud. Lizzie Clachan's expressionistic sets retain a dream-like quality in Act One with everything sliding slowly across the stage. When we go to the Underworld in Act Two moving walls are covered with drifting projections of catacombs. The singing is excellent throughout with a big cast led by Nicholas Lester as Orphée and Sarah Tynan as Eurydice. However, the voices that particularly stood out for us were those of Jennifer France and N…
Full Details »

Escape From Planet Trash, Pleasance Theatre - ★★★★ - Until December 22, 2019

Image
As Escape From Planet Trash began it felt like we'd arrived late at a party, Ginger Johnson and Sink The Pink "The LGBTQ+ Collective" are firm favourites here. Let us explain the plot: a spaceship lands on a post-apocalyptic earth now living in dread of giant marauding turkeys and... Oh, don't bother! Just sit back and enjoy the fun as it won't take long to get drawn into this show's very silly and unusual take on the Christmas panto! Ginger rules the roost with great aplomb as 'The Dame' and raises genuine laughs throughout the evening. David Cumming is quite outstanding as her son and is everyone's favourite! The other four talented members of the cast are variously space travelers and turkeys. Musically the show is well sung accompanied by a small but excellent live band. The production is slick and the scenery makes top grade use of the theatre's revolving stage as we whirl around the corrugated-iron shack where Ginger and her son live in …
Full Details »

High Fidelity, The Turbine Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until December 7, 2019

Image
This delightful musical definitely makes our top-five list! Nick Hornby's story about the geeky owner of a vinyl record shop and his band of misfit friends is a great start; the addition of good music and smart lyrics bring it to life. Finally, we have a musical with songs that don't all sound the same and lyrics crackling with wit and insight which stay true to character and the plot. "Desert Island Top Five Break-Ups," "Ian's Here," "I Slept With Someone Who Slept With Lyle Lovett" plus the ballads "Ready To Settle" and "Laura, Laura" are just outstanding. The quality of the writing is also perfectly matched by an amazingly energetic cast who just don't stop. The director, Tom Jackson Greaves, does a great job using the limited space available while also bringing some completely believable performances out of his cast. Oliver Ormson is a dynamo, doing a great turn as Rob who can't take responsibility for very much…
Full Details »

All's Well That Ends Well, Jermyn Street Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until November 30, 2019

Image
All's Well That Ends Well is often labelled a problem comedy, and it certainly offers a problem for contemporary audiences and sensibilities. It tells the story of the unrequited love of the virtuous Helena for the rather shallow Bertram and really makes us question why she abases herself to pursue this unworthy object of her affections. Tom Littler tries to address this issue in a wonderfully economical production using just six actors. He does so by focussing on Helena's reaction to the trauma of her father's death and frames the story with her memories. She acts in response to her loss and to her need to belong. Hannah Morrish excels as the lovestruck Helena, and Gavin Fowler is equally strong as the callow Bertram. Robert Mountford is delightful as Bertram's friend of bad influence whose exposure as a coward makes the protagonist reconsider his behaviour. Miranda Foster is simply outstanding in her multiple roles as The Countess, Queen and Widow. She creates clear …
Full Details »

Pinocchio: No Strings Attached! - Above The Stag Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until January 11, 2020

Image
If you can only do one panto this Xmas season, this should be the one. Pinocchio: No Strings Attached is the perfect representation of the genre. Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper have created a terrific entertainment. If this doesn't get you in the Xmas spirit, you should be off playing Scrooge in another panto somewhere! This hilarious show hits all the right notes: silliness, social satire, sing along and unforced audience participation. Even if you are the reticent type, you can't help but 'Boo' when Christopher Lane's brilliant Figaro comes on stage. It's a great comic turn and you would have to have the hardest of hearts not to sympathise with Matthew Baldwin's wonderful Geppetta and Christy Bellis' perky Cornetta. Oli Dickson's Joe wants a relationship with strings and who couldn't identify with the love he feels for the talented tyke, Pinocchio, played delightfully by Jared Thompson. Briony Rawle is great fun as Chianti the cat, and we lov…
Full Details »

Reputation, The Other Palace - ★★★★ - Until November 14, 2019

Image
Can you make a musical about plagiarism? Apparently you can. This charming cabaret musical is a lovely throwback to the simple stories and lovely music of the 1930's. It has some echoes of Chicago.Jeremy Secomb is wonderfully sleazy as Freddy Larceny who steals the work of young aspiring novelist, Michelle Grant, portrayed with delightful innocence and a backbone of steel by Maddy Banks. Michelle's lawyer and love interest played by Ed Wade is also excellent, as are the rest of the versatile cast who are our heroine's classmates and perform in other various roles throughout. The plot here is paper thin and the characters are purposefully rather two-dimensional. This is intended to be an uncomplicated night of fun with some hummable tunes and a feel-good plot, and it all works. The whole thing is a great antidote for some of the more turgid works presently on offer. The use of the small space by director, Warren Wills and choreographer, Tamsyn Salter, is excellent and both…
Full Details »

An Act of God, The Vaults - ★★★★★ - Until January 12, 2020

Image
This is simply the funniest show we've seen in ages. Zoe Lyons as the latest incarnation of God sets the record straight about the commandments and deals with some of the questions that have vexed theologians and the rest of us: the existence of evil, the success of bad people and the suffering of the innocent. It's all sorted here and it is done so with some great quips and some rather sharp insights. David Javerbaum's play deals with humanity's oldest questions and is also as relevant as the evening news. Boris, Jeremy, Prince Andrew and Arsenal all come into it and are all suitably skewered. The evening really belongs to Zoe Lyons whose performance is pitch perfect. She makes it difficult to imagine anyone else doing the part. All those politicians and celebs with god complexes pale in comparison Zoe. Okay, she has a few wrath issues. Nobody's perfect! Oh, wait a minute she actually is? Anyway, Matt Tedford as Archangel Michael is suitably sympathetic and Tom Bo…
Full Details »

White Christmas, Dominion Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until January 4, 2020

Image
WW II is over and two ex-GIs, now celebrity entertainers, team up with a pair of singing sisters to put on a show to save the indebted business of their former general turned innkeeper. Romantic complications ensue. The plot is predictable and there are some obscure American cultural references but who cares! This show is all about the great music of Irving Berlin, a giant of the American song book. White Christmas is a big brash full-of-joy entertainment with well-loved tunes that have the audience humming along from the very beginning. This is a Christmas confection full of an infectious good humour and a positivity that are quite irresistible. The singing and dancing are simply superb and the cast get it just right. Danny Mac is terrific as the moral, almost priggish, Bob Wallace and Danielle Hope iscaptivating as Betty Haynes. Her "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" is a standout. Dan Burton as the impish Phil Davis and Clare Halse as Judy Haynes are great as the si…
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine. Reviews and Ratings.