Aladdin – the story of a boy

‘Aladdin – the story of a boy’ by Tony Nicholls, is presented by Curtin’s Hayman Theatre Company at the Subiaco Arts Centre daily at 10.00 am and 2.00 pm, with extra 7.30 pm performances at the weekends, until Sunday 7^th December.

In view of the fact that the pantomime is ‘Aladdin’, the audience were requested in English and Mandarin to turn off their mobiles.

            In China, a thousand years ago, in the city of Hwan King, the Guardians of the Universe (Alice Hatton and Samantha Zinner) caught a genie (Joshua Walker) misbehaving and so imprisoned him in a lamp.
            A millennium later, a lazy, but ambitious, boy called Aladdin (Sarah Lumsden) was bored and looking for quick wealth, as was his evil neighbour, Abanazar (Nathan Hitchins) aided by his henchmen Mills (Kat Shaw) and Boon (Ailish Lydon). One day, the beautiful Princess Badroulbadour (Simone Ruggiero), who was searching for a husband, visited the village. However, her mother, the Empress Tai Ping (Kathryne Clarkson) – with the most amazing dialogue ever, overflowing with cringe generating malapropisms and spoonerisms - insisted that her suitor should be the very wealthy drip, Prince Lilac (Jonathan Best) and had already arranged the marriage.
            Aladdin’s mother, Widow Twankey (Alex Littlewood) works hard in her laundry to keep her lazy son; will she ever be able to retire? Who will marry the princess? Oh no he won’t, oh yes he will!

For three decades, the unassuming and shy playwright, Tony Nicholls, has been recognised as the Pantomime King of Perth. Although now living in Tasmania, he has produced this brand new traditional script, filled with topical jokes for his old Curtin team. In true pantomime tradition the play is on two levels, one for the youngsters and the other filled with saucy puns for the adults.

With children’s shows, the timing is essential and director Duncan Sharp, and his assistant Megan Taylor, give us interaction and spot on delivery. The first class cast worked tirelessly together, strong delivery of lines with plenty of visual fun. The chorus was bright and focused.
Well stage managed by Glynis Best and Courtney Trantham. Quality lighting design by Stephen Warren. Sarah Fay’s musical direction of the catchy, sing-along songs coupled with Claire Nichols’ energetic and well synchronised, bouncy choreography gave lots of life to this show. Costumes of an extremely high standard by Kate Hart.

I missed the usual little bit of slapstick, but the characters were so fun filled that the show sparkles. Exuberant. Quirky. One of the best pantos for a while.