The Gingerbread Mix-Up – Lyric Theatre – Review by Audrey Devereux

Lyric Theatre, Belfast. December 7th 2016-January 7th 2017

When is a panto not a panto? When it’s the Gingerbread Mix up at Belfast’s Lyric…Oh yes it is, oh no it isn’t! It’s possible that the cast and the audience are as confused as each other, but that doesn’t detract from the crowd’s enjoyment of the festive confection on offer at the city’s landmark theatre. I was accompanied by Jaime (5) and Laura (7) who afterwards enthused about ‘the witch’, ‘the singing’ and ‘when the glitterball came on’; to be fair the glitterball coming on is my favourite part of any given Christmas show too and I love a bit of panto banter and shenanigans, but after yesterday’s offering I was nonplussed.

I think the issue is that the show is well-intentioned but didn’t really know what it wanted to be. A programme note suggests it’s a mash-up of familiar fairy tales: there are references to Hansel and Gretel, the Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and many more but instead of taking familiar tropes from these stories and adding a few snappy jokes, songs and some fun audience interaction with stock characters, the writer fashioned a new tale. It starts off with a completely unsympathetic heroine, the spoilt, Veruca Salt-like ‘Primrose’, which is admittedly not a great place to start. Tired of Primrose’s constant demands, her parents abandon her in the forest whereby she encounters a cat-like figure called ‘Pardon’ (read Magic Genie/Buttons type character). Pardon is actually on the look out for a suitable child for the Evil Witch ‘Brenda’ to cook up, Brenda tells us in song she sort of wants to be evil but also doesn’t want to be evil, it’s not very clear why she’s like this. Sometimes the characters talked straight to the audience, sometimes they didn’t. What transpired was 1 hr 30 mins of some songs and a lot of Primrose trying to escape with the help of Pardon. Eventually, as all good Christmas show characters should, Primrose repents her bratty ways after a letter delivered by a silent bunny /deus ex machina (whose presence was never fully explained; I asked our two wee ones who the rabbit was in case I had missed something, they weren’t sure either).

Production values in this show are high: there is undoubtedly a great cast of just three actors (with Brenda the Witch doing the lion’s part of the work on stage), a spookily atmospheric woodland/Gingerbread House set, quirky costume and lighting design, sound and original music all making something of a visual and audio delight. The warm welcome at the Lyric was undeniably jolly and festive. The whole experience falls down with the play itself which looks like it was one draft away from being something really good. Whether this lies at the door of the director, author or dramaturge (if there was one) I’m not sure. Either way, theatre for children is just the same as theatre for adults: the writing must be done to a tee; I’ll resist the temptation to make any comparisons to half-baked gingerbread here. The kids had a good time.

The Gingerbread Mix-Up

Written By Martin Murphy

Directed by Richard Croxford

Starring Rosie Barry, Kyron Bourke and Christina Nelson