BWW Reviews: PUSS IN BOOTS, Hackney Empire, December 6 2013

Susie McKenna bites the bullet and gives a Puss in Boots that stays loyal to its complicated French story but still incorporates all the traditions of its madcap English format. It's a packed show, coming in at just over two and a half hours - fortunately the pace doesn't let up and the audience goes home well entertained having had their money's worth.

Kat B is an engaging, if inexplicably, Jamaican Puss, whose street-smarts appeal to the kids and allows him a little jibe or two at those too cool for school. His Puss anchors a swirling cast of characters and subplots, including plenty of heroes and villains, a few transformations and "I've been on a journey" moral discoveries and a spectacularly realised ogre, that might need a bit of pre-show flagging up for the very little ones.

With so much going on up there, this panto can feel a little like a film for more experienced theatre-goers. That's to the production's advantage (given its target market) as long as the actors can make each scene credible - and, with the exception of a long-winded picture-restoration and boozing setpiece, they do.

Stephen Matthews is a wise-cracking Dame whose wooing of (and then by) Tony Timberlake's King is a sweet storyline that doesn't matter to the pre-teens and teens, but is lovely for the grown-ups to observe. The kids are more interested in the three baddie females (a Queen, a Witch and a spoilt Princess) and the goodies out to defeat them (Thomas, the Good Fairy and Puss). There are some good old panto performances from these battlers, with Josefina Gabrielle's and Sharon D Clarke's version of Rolling in the Deep the highlight (indeed, the singing, oft neglected in panto, is very, very good throughout).

Throw in some very impressive visuals (and an ogre) and go large on the contemporary references and local name checks (the Land of Hackneyonia anyone?) and you've got a crowdpleaser that balances panto's familiar component parts very successfully in a perfect panto venue. It's quite a brave production too - one that gets by without big star names in a big theatre - but Susie McKenna has been round the block a few times at Christmas and has delivered another winner - though Cinderella might be an easier option next time!

Puss in Boots continues at The Hackney Empire until 5 January.

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