On the 31st December 2021, I attended the annual pantomine at Richmond Theatre. This year it was Cinderella.

Going to the pantomine at Richmond was something that I have done since a young and I have seen the likes of Jo Brand in Snow White, Robert Lindsay in Peter Pan and Maureen Lipman in Sleeping Beauty.

Having not been able to go to the pantomine last year due to the lockdwon I was excited and thrilled to go to the pantomine this year. And it did not dissapoint.

Anton Du Beke, who is known for being part of every single series of Strictly Come Dancing to date and has been a professianal dancer on the show, now more recently being a judge in the series this year, made his pantomine debut as Buttons. Anton Du Beke brought the same energy and charm that he brings to Strictly to the role of Buttons, playing it fantastically.

Other members of the cast where Rosemary Ashe as The Fairy Godmother and Oonagh Cox as Cinderella.

 

One of my favorite moments from the pantomine was the tap-dancing extravaganza where Anton Du Beke came on in a top hat and tails peforming an englant footwork routine.

I also like the comic adapted versions of pop songs such as the adapted version of Bad Guys called Bad Girls sung by the ugly sisters and how the song I will Survive was played during the scene where they were seeing whether the shoe would fit.

Another stand out part was the rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas which had toilet rolls instead of gold rings. One thing that made me laugh was when things went wrong and Anton bashed Rosemary with his toilet rolls and she accidentally called Anton Anton instead of the part he was playing, Buttons.

Cinderella was something that we all needed; a great distraction from the uncertainty of the world. I thoroughly enjoyed Cinderella with it definitely ranking high up amongst other pantomines that I have seen and I am looking forward to two upcoming shows at Richmond Theatre which are An Audience with Anton on the 15 May and also next year's pantomine of Jack and and the Beanstalk running from the 3 Dec 2022- 31 Dec 2022. I would certainly give Cinderella a 10.