Show: Aladdin
Society: Hackney Empire Ltd (professional productions)
Venue: Hackney Empire. 291 Mare Street, London E8 1EJ
Credits: Written by Will Brenton. Music and Songs by Steven Edis. Directed by and starring Clive Rowe.
Type: Sardines
Author: Susan Elkin
Performance Date: 30/11/2023
Aladdin
Susan Elkin | 01 Dec 2023 23:17pm
Photo: Steve Gregson.
This competent show, bespoke for Hackney, ticks all the boxes for its local community. It takes us to a familiar place called Hack-ne-lah. And Clive Rowe has done so much panto in Hackney that he gets a welcoming round of applause he cycles on at his first entry preceded by his “cooeee” trademark.
The show is clean as clothes peg. It’s billed as being true family entertainment and that’s what it delivers. There isn’t a remotely smutty line or a leer or a smirk and we’re even spared the otherwise ubiquitous, but very tedious, fart joke(s). Most of traditional elements are in but both slosh scene and ghost scenes are understated with a sense of something to be got through,
The orchestration is unusually generous. There’s a fine five-piece band, led by Alex Maynard, in the pit area which includes some saxophone work from Flick Isaac-Chiton. Winds are rare in a panto score and it adds some good depth to the overall sound.
Rowe, of course, is the star attraction, closely followed by the glittering, rubber-bodied Kat B, another Hackney regular, as the Genie of the Lamp. Rowe’s performance is admirably sharp especially when he’s ad-libbing. His comic timing is masterly, as is his knack for knowingly eyeing the audience. He isn’t much of a dancer, despite his neat feet, but he’s a strong singer – his high tenor, often soaring above the texture to pleasing dramatic effect.
Natasha Lewis does all the traditional cackling and mock-threatening as the dastardly Abby-na-zaaar! However, she is an accomplished trombonist and much more could have been made of this rather than constantly joking about it and then giving us just one spot in Act 2 where she plays. The show misses a trick by underusing Lewis’s talent.
Amongst the rest of the cast – all doing decent enough jobs – Ruth Lynch stands out as the Fairy of the Ring. She gives us a faintly soppy fairy with a confidence problem – but a real talent for singing and dancing. It’s a nicely nuanced performance.
This show – on press night at least – is a jolly party for the people of Hackney with lots of audience participation and dance-from-your-seat at the end. It succeeds well on its own terms.