It’s that time of the year. Everyone is slowly but surely getting in the holiday mood. Dezemba is on its way and people are making their plans to relax after the long year. One thing that’s a sign of the year end is the annual Janice Honeyman pantomime. The show happens at the Nelson Mandela stage at the Joburg Theatre. This year’s production which opened on November 6 and runs until December 24 is titled Adventures in Pantoland.
The show which has a running time of around two hours has a special treat for audiences this time around. The show also brings together writer and director Honeyman with executive producer Bernard Jay once more. It consists of five pantomimes in one: Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Snow White, Jack and The Beanstalk and Peter Pan. The reason for this extravaganza is because the Joburg Theatre celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2022. The theatre’s CEO, Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema said: “Whilst planning Joburg Theatre’s 60th Anniversary celebrations for 2022, it was therefore the perfect time for us to produce a ‘Panto of All Pantos’, constituting the finale of our anniversary season”.
The show definitely takes things up to another level. The show builds on the locally-developed digital scenery which was introduced during last year’s production of Cinderella. The backgrounds which were created by production designer Andrew Timm and his team from Andrew Timm Creative are fantastic. In this year’s show, it was really used to perfection. It created another whole level to the show. This could be seen with the Easter eggs found in the graphics on the screens, stairways and sliding doors.
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The creative team of Timm, choreographer Nicol Sheraton, musical director Dale-Ray Scheepers, costume co-ordinator Bronwen Lovegrove and lighting designer Johan Ferreira all did a great job.
While the digital art is definitely a sight to behold, it doesn’t take anything away from the great performances delivered by the brilliant cast. There are the core four of the good guys featuring Dylan du Plessis (Aladdin), Carmen Pretorious (Aurora), Didintle Khunou (Snow White) and Justin Swartz (Jack the Joller) who need to save Pantoland from the “baddies” who want to steal the Golden Goblet of Goodness.
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A special shout has to be given to Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala who plays the Good Fairy. Besides the good acting performance she presented, the high notes she managed to hit on the stage during the musical numbers were beautiful to hear. Another special shoutout has to be given to Ilse Klink. The veteran, award-winning actor stands out on stage in the multiple roles she plays.
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The only part of the show that was slightly inappropriate was the exaggerated Chinese and Jamaican accents the actors put on at one point in the production. It didn’t add anything significant to the plot and the show could have probably done better without the stereotyped accents that were used. It would have been better if the actors just used their normal voices and exaggerated it depending on the role instead of parodying someone’s accent.
But besides that, the show is sure to be a great delight for the whole family. The younger ones will enjoy the musical numbers – many which are quite popular on TikTok – while the older audiences will enjoy the political and mature jokes. Although one “joke” which everyone in the crowd got – young and old – was the loadshedding one caused by the baddies on stage. The crowd interactions from the cast members is also a great experience and the ending performance doesn’t disappoint.
Tickets from R260 are available now by visiting www.joburgtheatre.com or by calling 0861 670 670. Discount prices are available for groups of ten or more. The pantomime season will run until Saturday December 24th 2022.
