Sleeping Beauty At The Victoria Theatre, Halifax Review

Reviewed by Jenny Bray

Christmas is coming, which means that it is pantomime season, a time for all the family to go to the theatre and enjoy a fun, festive and full of laughs show.

The story is Sleeping Beauty, put on by Imagine Theatre Ltd. Princess Beauty (Becca Lee-Isaacs) has been trapped inside Hebden Hall her whole life due to the curse put on her by Carabosse (Felicity Skiera) when she was a baby so her protective parents King Louis (David J Higgins) and his Queen (Gracie Caine) have kept her hidden away. I loved the way David J Higgins played the King, especially his responses to other people’s comments due to a slight hearing issue.

The Dame of this show is Nurse Nora (Adam Stafford). There are outrageous outfits galore, including some impressively quick changes during some scenes! My favourite outfit was the knight.

Josh Benson plays Joshin’ Josh, Nurse Nora’s son. He’s hugely energetic and enthusiastic on stage, doing front flips and dancing and bouncing around. He is very engaging, with both adults and children alike. My children said his overall role was their favourite part of the show. When reading his biography in the programme it made sense that his background is in children’s entertainment. The programme also contains lots of children’s puzzles, so is well worth it for entertaining the children, especially if arriving early.

Josh Benson and Adam Stafford, who plays Nurse Nora, have worked together twice before and it shows. They are charismatic and great at bouncing gags off each other and also ad libbing some extra jokes in to the show as they go along. They have a hilarious and slightly messy kitchen scene when preparing a soufflé for Beauty’s christening party. The added comedy value of pantomime is always the bit that brings the audience together even more with laughter. At times it also brought some of the cast together while laughing at themselves and each other!

It was really nice to see a set of 8 youngsters as the junior ensemble on stage. Tonight’s team was the Briars team.

Fairy Flutterby (Nikki Schofield) is the fairy who pops up throughout the show and brings the story together. There are also a couple of extra pantomime scenes added in to the storyline, including a trolley of puns, linked to chocolate and a scene involving a bench and some ghosts…

The stage setting has several entirely different backdrops as well as various sets. My favourite stage set piece was the steps leading up to the top of the tower, where the spinning wheel is, as it was centre stage yet turned as Beauty walked up the steps. Watch out for Tinkerbell, Carabosse’s pet.

At the end, Josh got some children out of the audience to join in with a tongue twister song, which had some funny alternatives if you got it a little wrong. One of the children tonight obviously found it hilarious being on stage and struggled to talk as he was laughing so much, which was infectious for the others and the audience.

There are several well known songs sung by the cast during the storyline, including Pink, Aerosmith and Keane, amongst others. The best singing voice came from Kieran Morris, who played Prince Bernard.

The theatre is in the centre of Halifax, yet still very accessible with on street parking nearby. The theatre is right on a corner. Although it doesn’t look it from the outside, it’s a fairly traditional looking theatre inside, with 3 tiers of seating facing a large main stage. It’s a bit smaller than some theatres so all the seats have a great view of the whole stage. There are kiosks that sell popcorn and ice cream by the entrance and a bar. The staff were all welcoming and friendly.

The jokes and puns were plentiful and are designed to suit all ages, with some aimed specifically at the older ones of us in the audience rather than just for the children. There were also several aimed at local areas. Audience participation was actively encouraged throughout and kept everyone engaged. Listen out at the end for who Caboose’s twin is…

The first half of the show is longer than the second, which works perfectly for engaging the younger audience. The show starts at the earlier time of 6.30pm, which is good for the younger audience members as it means that it’s not too late a night for them. It was also lively and interactive the whole time so kept my children engaged and joining in.

I rate it 5/5 and recommend that you head to the Victoria theatre to catch it over this festive season.

Tickets cost from £18-27.50

Sleeping Beauty is on at The Victoria Theatre in Halifax between 10th December 2022 and 2nd January 2023.

For more information or to book tickets visit; https://www.victoriatheatre.co.uk/whats-on/sleeping-beauty or call the box office on 01422 351158

The Victoria Theatre, Fountain Street, Halifax, HX1 1BP