Cinderella at The Dukes, Lancaster Review
Cinderella
The Dukes, Lancaster
29 November 2014 to 10 January 2015
Reviewed by Catherine Joyce
The Dukes is easy to find, situated close to the centre of Lancaster with plenty of parking nearby. The car park we used had an evening rate of just £1.40 and was very close to the theatre.
I have seen many pantomimes over the years and normally the story is pretty much the same, the only difference being the venue, cast and a few different jokes and songs. When we arrived at the Dukes I was expecting to see a pretty traditional Cinderella tale. The first sign that this may not be the case was when we entered the theatre to the sound of hillbilly music playing, not your traditional pantomime music, but certainly fun.
The Dukes have taken the traditional tale of Cinderella, a girl downtrodden by her evil stepmother and ugly stepsisters and retold it. Gone is the pumpkin that turns into a coach, mice that turn into horses and there isn’t even a twinkle of a magic wand, let alone a fairy godmother. Even the magic slipper has been changed; I won’t spoil the surprise and tell you what it has been replaced with.
The story begins on Christmas Eve, two children are waiting for their parents to return from the vets with their injured pet dog. They are being looked after by their grandfather and to distract them he beings to tell a story…
Ella lives with her father on a farm near the palace and they are very poor. One day her father brings home a surprise – a new wife and two stepsisters. These three begin to make Ella’s life a misery. The only light in her life are the infrequent visits by a young lad, Danny, a local gardener.
Whilst the wicked stepmother and ugly sisters were not the standard pantomime dames they were just as funny and their dancing had the audience in fits of laughter. All the cast were fantastic, Adam Barlow, who plays Danny is very talented actor and musician and played a number of different instruments throughout the performance. I thought Andrew Vincent was perfectly cast playing the roles of Granddad, Father and King. Whilst the standard of performance was very high and it is hard to single out one member he was definitely my favourite character.
The usual sing along was missing as were the calls of “He’s behind you!” and “Oh no it isn’t”; but there were other audience participation opportunities. I especially liked the party at the palace as the audience were all invited to join in and the children loved putting their party hats on.
A farm isn’t a farm without animals and the cast use a number of puppets to portray the farm animals and the dog Jake – this was very cleverly done and really popular with the little girl sat next to me.
Normally I wouldn’t mention the programme in a review but I thought The Dukes programme for Cinderella was excellent. As well as the normal cast details, photos and advertisements there is a special children’s section including the words to the songs, a letter from Ella and a couple of activities that you can look at before the pantomime starts or during the interval. My son enjoyed writing his own Cinderella story with the comic pictures and answers.
I’ll not say too much more and risk spoiling it but anybody tired of the traditional tale should give this version a go. We had a fantastic night out and it the best pantomime I have seen for many years.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £5 to £17 (plus £1 transaction fee).
Cinderella is at The Dukes, Lancaster until 10 January 2015. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 01524 598500.
The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1QE | 01524 598500
