REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast at the Castle Theatre is charming, colourful with heartfelt humour for the whole family
Castle Theatre’s annual pantomime has established itself as an annual tradition for families, and this year’s show, Beauty and the Beast, feels right at home with some of their best offerings to date.
As is the way with many pantomimes, the story is short, sporadic, and kept largely in the background. In short, Beauty and her father, Doc, have moved to the charming town of Le Wellingborough, where the sneaky, opportunistic, and very charasmatic Danon (ooooh Danon) hatches a plan to marry her. The plan leads Beauty, Danon, and the merry gang of Le Wellingborough locals to the castle on the hill, where a beast, who has been cursed by an evil witch, lies in wait.
The opening few minutes feel like a sequential introduction to each of the characters, which was very welcome as the story accommodates a lot of characters, each with their own boisterous personality.
Along the way there’s a baking contest (which I’m fairly sure wasn’t in the original 18th century fairy tale), not-so-subtle digs at other local towns, plenty of songs mimicking popular tracks from the year, and a rendition of If ‘I Was Not in Pantomime’ before the big finish, where spoiler alert: all’s well that ends well.
The set design is great, treading the line between colourful and whimsical and genuine fantasy-inspired elements with ease and showing an impressive amount of depth (despite what FC says).
Despite leaning heavily into its slapstick humour and chaotic character development, there are a handful of truly heartwarming moments which hit on some important, and relevant themes.
Finding someone’s inner beauty, social isolation, and learnign to acknowledge one’s self-worth are topics that are handled with care, and presented in a way that is easy for children to understand, yet it doesn’t negatively impact the show’s light-hearted tone.
Beast’s unlikely friendship with Gary Johnson’s Mademoiselle Marmalade is charming, and the contrast in each character’s personality compliments each other.
The cast as a whole do a wonderful job, including Aura Hope Mitchell as Beauty, Kaysee Craine as Beast/Prince Pierre, Nancy Doubledee as the Enchantress, Edward Conroy as Djon, Daniel Taylor as Doc, Samuel Morgan-Grahame as FC, Andy Rose as Danon, and the ever-present Gary Johnson as Mademoiselle Marmalade.
The standout performances were dancers, Emma Abel, Robert Emile, Kieron Imms, Alanya Maisie, Jude Pointing and Lottie Snowden, who made each routine and story beat feel that much more exciting.
Castle Theatre has undoubtedly delivered another knockout panto this year; one that families will have plenty of fun with in the run up to the Christmas season.
Tickets scale in price over the coming weeks, with peak performances rising to £31.50, so while it’s a costly activity, it’s one that kids will cherish for the year, until Dick Whittington and His Cat comes to The Castle in 2026.
Beauty and the Beast is not a story I’m familiar with, and while I can’t imagine this year’s panto in Wellingborough is a faithful adaptation, it’s certainly piqued my interest in watching the Disney classic this Christmas. That said, if it doesn’t have Sabrina Carpenter covers and a Back to the Future-style Doc in the picture, I’m going to be severely disappointed.
No pressure, Disney.