Goldilocks And The Three Bears at St Helens Theatre Royal Review

Reviewed by Kathryn Harrison

Over the years I’ve been to many pantomimes at St Helens Theatre Royal but without a shadow of a doubt last night’s performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears was the best I’ve ever watched at the Theatre Royal. It has everything you could want from a Panto, audience interaction, a brilliant Panto Dame, a fantastic baddie, aerial acrobatics, tik-toking talking bears and the tightest trousers I’ve ever seen on stage!

You may be wondering how a short story like Goldilocks and the Three Bears can be turned into a full length panto, but with a bit of added storyline of two rival circuses and a love triangle involving Goldilocks it all came together to provide 2 hours of non stop entertainment. The story goes that the circus owned by Dame Gerty, Goldilocks mum, is under threat from the rival circus owned by bad guy, Baron Von Vippemall. Dame Gerty was played by David Phipps Davis. David played the part of Panto Dame wonderfully, providing lots of humour and interacting well with the audience.

I visited the theatre with my friend and our two daughters, aged 8 and 9. All of us really enjoyed the show and we all agreed our favourite characters were Silly Billy and Baron Von Vippemall. Scott Gallagher played Silly Billy and was great at interacting with the audience and providing a lot of laughs along the way. However, for me, Timothy Lucas as the baddie Baron absolutely stole the show! His over the top performance in this role was brilliant, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect pantomime villain. We last saw Timothy playing Jack, in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Theatre Royal in October. Whilst he was great in that show, last night’s performance was something else he clearly revels playing the bad guy! When Baron Von Vippemall and Silly Billy were on stage together their antics were hilarious! Audience members of all ages were laughing away and at one point I was genuinely laughing until I cried.

There were lots of faces you’ll recognise if you’ve watched some of St Helens previous pantomimes. Fresh from her performance in Jack and the Beanstalk, Olivia Sloyan returns as the leading lady Goldilocks, Jenna Sian O’Hara, another St Helens regular, played Baby Bear in the show but she also performed aerial acrobatics as part of the circus troope which absolutely amazed my daughter who couldn’t take her eyes of Jenna when she was performing. As usual the Regal Entertainment Dancers were all wonderful, adding depth to the musical scenes and enhancing the performance of the main characters.

With numerous pantomimes throughout the year Regal Entertainments Ltd and St Helens Theatre Royal have definitely discovered a formula that their audience enjoys and this pantomime was their best one so far, it really was everything you’d hope and expect a pantomime to be. Everyone in the theatre last night appeared to be having a great time as evidenced by the standing ovation the cast received at the end of the show. It truly is the perfect Christmas treat for the whole family!

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost from £20 plus £0.50 booking fee

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is showing at St Helens Theatre Royal from December 10th – January 9th 2022

For more information or to book tickets visit http://www.sthelenstheatreroyal.com/whats-on/ or contact the box office on 01744 756000

Corporation Street, St Helens, WA10 1LQ