Wiggly Wooing, booing and trying to snatch a penny sweet in the air from a five-year-old child in the row behind me have been part of my Christmas experience for as long as I can remember.
The Christmas panto at the Congress Theatre is always a (no pun intended) cracker. Our mates from Cardiff contacted us in September and asked if we fancied joining them and their son, our godson. So they travelled down the M4 and we saw yesterday’s 5.30pm show.
It runs until Christmas Eve and then is back again for a few days before the end of December. Check out tickets here.
The six of us enjoyed two hours of pun-filled laughter sprinkled with a bit of gentle innuendo for the grown-ups. This Rainbow Valley Productions had it all – Dancing (from the Jeff Guppy School Of Musical Theatre), singing, flashing lights, perfectly timed music, smoke, a water fight and even a Taylor Swift spin-off.
Wishy Washy telling his brother Aladdin: “I’m going to ask the prin……………….ter to print me some business cards” made me laugh far louder than I should have. But that’s the beauty of panto. There is something for everyone- not every pun or one-liner will grab you but then out of the blue comes one that just hit the spot. And a printer joke is right up my street.
The show took an unexpected turn when “Dai”, a man in the fourth row who caught the eye of Widow Twankey in the first half vanished at the interval. It led to a lot of laughs especially when the cast found out his family was sat in the row behind him and they had no idea where he was. A child near the back, with perfect deadpan timing answered Ms Twankey’s call for “Where’s Dai?” with “He’s dead!!!!” and this may have got the biggest laugh of the night.
The talk of the foyer after the final curtain was “Where’s Dai” and all was soon revealed. I think he just fancied sitting out the second half and waited for his family by the doors.
Fabulous dancing, fabulous comedy timing, and simply fabulous family-fun. Thanks to the cast, crew, lights, music, sounds and Congress Theatre staff for another special evening.
My mate. who travelled 25 miles to Cwmbran, told me as we walked to the car park that the show was “better than any” he’d seen in Cardiff. Pretty good compliment!