Review by Karen Wyatt-Epapara  

Panto season is back, and it started with a bang (or several) in Bournemouth.

This year, the festive offering at Bournemouth Pavilion is Beauty and the Beast.

The traditional fairytale has been given the full pantomime treatment, resulting in a fun-filled couple of hours of theatre.

Belle finds herself imprisoned in an enchanted castle by a prince who has been transformed into a hideous beast by an evil sorceress. Encouraged by his servants, Louis and Polly La Plonk, he tries to win the love of the girl who has melted his heart.

If you’re familiar with panto, there are scenes you’ll recognise, and this production loses nothing for that. Indeed, it wouldn’t have seemed complete without the boos and cheers, and the ‘its’s behind you’ and ‘oh no, it isn’t – oh yes, it is’ moments, which were all done well.

The script included topical elements, including the football World Cup and dances and songs popular on the TikTok app, which went down particularly well with younger audience members.

The cast included the usual mix of celebrities and theatre performers. Eastenders’ Emma Barton played Fairy Bon Bon, and particularly shone in her singing numbers, while Marcus Knibbs – from Brookside and Jonathan Creek – played Belle’s father.

Jamie Steen, as the pantomime dame Polly La Plonk, delighted alongside Bournemouth pantomime stalwart Noel Brodie as Louis La Plonk, who delivered some of the funniest one-liners.

Completing the cast were Ellie Green as Belle, Mark Scott as Beast and Travis Ross as the baddie, Hugo, with a talented chorus of young dancers and singers. All accomplished theatre performers, a notable highlight came at the end of the first act when the whole cast came together to sing a song adapted from Les Miserables which was very impressive.

With an award-winning script, spectacular costumes and larger-than-life sets, the whole production came together in a magical afternoon of entertainment.

Beauty and the Beast is playing at Bournemouth Pavilion until Monday 2 January 2023.