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Aladdin And The Twankeys
Theatre Royal, York
4 Stars
This may be Berwick Kaler's 35th year as pantomime dame at York Theatre Royal but there remains an air of organised chaos about Aladdin And The Twankeys.
The element of improvised slapstick is such that it's sometimes difficult to know what's scripted and what's a genuine technical glitch, as when the bed on which Kaler (Twankey) sits fails to fly or when his long-term sidekick Martin Barrass - Aladdin's identical twin brother- falls over his outsized trouser legs.
The use of established cast members, including Suzy Cooper as love interest Princess Peke-A-Boo and Al Braatz as Aladdin, helps give the ensemble a family feel and there's genuine warmth in the pleasure Kaler seems to take in making fellow actors corpse.
It's a familiarity that imbues the entire show, which embraces the tried and tested - a song sheet, topical references to 50 Shades Of Grey, electricity prices, a quick burst of "he's behind you!" - as well as introducing a revolutionary new concept in the form of a meandering plot.
Thankfully this doesn't get in the way of farce and includes three of the ensemble gamely taking a dunking in the One Minute Wash 'n' Go Laundry, a video section that pastiches the Village People and the Gene Genie of the lamp (Harry Hughes) being pure Aladdin Sane.
It's a glam-rock twist that might not correspond with Charles Cusick-Smith and Phil R Daniels's oriental costumes and set design but it makes perfect sense within the occasionally surreal plot twists.
Writer and co-director Kaler may remain the central draw but he's secondary to many of the key scenes, including a superbly choreographed duet between Genie of the Bling (AJ Powell) and the villainous Abanazar (Jonathan Race) and Princess Peke-A-Boo being shrunk to a helium-voiced puppet with a human head.
Kaler may joke that he dishes up the "same old rubbish" each winter but, on the evidence of this year's pantomime, there's plenty of life left in the winning production team.
Runs until February 1. Box office: (01904) 623568.
Susan Darlington
