It might not strictly be pantomime season anymore but Dramsoc bring you a late festive treat with their performance of Jack and the beanstalk this week. Normally at this point it’s traditional to give a brief resumé of the plot, but frankly, if you don’t know what happens in Jack and the Beanstalk, you should probably be complaining to your parents about having a neglected childhood!
However, I guess there are a few differences in this production so here is a (very) basic storyline: Jack and his mother are going to be thrown out of their house by the nasty Squire MacGuire (boo hiss) as they can’t pay the rent. In an attempt to raise money Jack takes their cow to market and swaps it with the evil Witch Whey for a bag of beans (stupid boy!) The beans turn out to be magic and a mighty beanstalk grows and up it climb Jack, his mother, the princess Penelope, a blind royal servant called Stammers, Jack’s sister Jill and her boyfriend (simple) Simon (yes there is also a pieman... and pies, many pies!!) At the top is a giant’s castle, home to Mr and Mrs Giant (who aren’t very giant), Captain Detergiant (evil captain of the giant’s guards who looks quite a bit like Squire Macguire (boo hiss!)) and his evil henchmen (or should that be man) Pungiant and Stringiant (mutants that resemble ‘Two-bad’ from He-man). The evil captain then steals the golden goose from the giants and forces it to lay golden eggs by playing with a harp. It’s up to Jack to save the giants, save the goose and harp (God only knows what Dertergiant might do to them, he is a very naughty man!), save his house, save his loyal cow Annabelle and win the heart of the Princess... will good triumph over evil? What do you think?
Well there you go, you are probably thinking, now I don’t need to come, I can guess what happens! However, you do, because this review wasn’t very funny and the actual pantomime is! There are some great comedy moments (including some wonderful ‘Imperial’ jokes), some brilliant characters, people in various animal costumes and also one night the actual author of this version, an ex Imperial student himself, is popping along and so you get to see a man tearing out his hair as he sees what we have done to his masterpiece (at no extra cost!)
If you like saying ‘It’s behind you!’ and ‘Oh no you didn’t!’ and if you enjoy seeing men dressed up and women and women dressed up as men (and lets face it, who doesn’t?) then there is definitely no better way to spend an evening.
Jack and the Beanstalk is on in the Union concert hall from this Wednesday the 19th to Saturday the 22nd starting at 7.30 each night and tickets costs £4.50 for students or £6 for others.
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