REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast – Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock
The pantomime season has kicked off in grand style with a truly magical gem at Eastwood Park Theatre. Beauty and the Beast takes the very best of traditional panto and stirs in some clever touches and modern updates, all mixed in with a fantastic cast whose chemistry is palpable. I’d get a ticket as quickly as possible before word of mouth gets around.
There is a tangible feeling of excitement in the air before curtain up, the auditorium is packed with a demographic that goes from around 2 years to 92 years. As a result there is a warm and welcoming atmosphere before a word has been uttered.
There is much to love here: the costumes are glitzy, the acting and singing first-rate, the cast’s comedy chops are fantastic, the set-pieces are perfectly executed and the action is varied in pace and tone so that the attention never wavers. It is testament to the cast and the writing that the entire audience was enraptured for over two and a half hours and the time flashed by at supersonic speed.
The entire production looks rich with spectacularly detailed costumes and clever use of backdrops and lighting. There’s much to interest the eye throughout.
The greatest credit to the production is its cast. Chiara Sparkes is a lively, feminist Belle, and Titus Rowe has as much smarm as charm as the story’s equivalent to Gaston, the wonderfully named Bouffant du Quiff. Jamie Lemetti is very Doc Brown from Back to the Future as Belle’s inventor father Maurice, but the stand-out among the cast, and the glue that binds the entire show is Aidan MacColl as Lumiere, now an electrician rather then a candelabra, with an armoury of one-liners and on-point physical comedy.
This is a show that will soften the hardest of hearts, there’s absolutely no smut or innuendo, just clever jokes and manic energy. The adults will (and did) have as much of a blast as the tiniest audience members. I can’t recommend it highly enough. An easy five stars.
Runs until 31 December 2023 – ticket info here
