Nottingham Arts Theatre, George Street
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp
Saturday 10th - Sunday 18th December 2011

Who needs big names and technical wizadry to pull in the punters when all you need is an enigmatic cast, acted well with plenty of gusto; throw in a handful of well known songs to get the kids singing and clapping and you have The People's Theatre Company offering for 2011.

Written by Peter Denyer, every member of the cast give 110%, even in the smallest part. And the casting is genius.  Tom Keeling takes the title role of Aladdin and turns the character into a cheeky, slightly camp hero of the moment and if TV special effects could be applied to the stage i am sure there would be a twinkle from his broad smile appear every time he grinned at the audience.  Princess So Shi (pronounced So Shy) is played slightly more street wise than I have seen in some other Aladdins by the lovely Kimberley Brook.  Chris Bailey-Stonall is born to wear high heels in a more traditional Widow Twankey and is a real joy to watch. Of course all pantos have to have a baddie the audience love to hate, and I thought that last year's King Rat was evil but Philip Roberts really riles the audience as Abanazar. One nice touch with the writing for Abanazar is that he has a "catchphrase" if you like.  When he is about to exit he throws out " Don't you just love me" which lets the audience know that this is their time to show their depreciation of their favourite baddie.

This cast of regular faces and newbies kept the party rocking with hits like CeeLo Green's "Forget You", Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", Beyonce's "Single Ladies", Dolly Parton's "9 To 5" and Jessie J's "Price Tag". Three pantos in Nottingham City Centre and the The People's Theatre Company definitely held their own in what I think is their best to date. 

Kev Castle, Nottingham Hospitals Radio

To book tickets visit www.nottingham-theatre.co.uk