Star rating **** It must be love. No, not the "eyes meet, hearts leap, lips pucker to be kissed - so cue the song" scenario between total strangers Jack and Jill, or the mega-pash that leaves wannabe B-boy Gary smitten, and uncharacteristically speechless, every time the gallus Fairy Liqui-Tab bounces in. She fancies Jack - so will she really magic up a happy ending that sees him snogging Jill ever after?
Nor, for all its purringly venomous allure, is it the megalomaniac ego-trip that drives Narcissa to new depths of mean-spirited malice - scary because she's got wicked-witchy powers (and a vampy costume that shrieks evil intent with every sashay).
This love is the many-splendoured and lavishly sequinned attachment that writer Johnny McKnight has for pantomime. Last year saw him create a fresh yet intrinsically traditional Cinderella at the MacBob. Now, with a Mother Goose that revels in seventies pastiche and sees Fame as the (musical) key to a new look for an old tale - and for an old biddy who yearns to release her inner Cher, clingy bodysuit and all - McKnight proves that his writing/directing talent, and his Dame, have crowd-pleasing legs.
It would be very easy for McKnight to hog the stage as Mother Goose: he's a born patter-merchant, quick-witted in impromptu exchanges with the audience. Instead he lets every-one, including the young casts who play Narcissa's baddies and Mother Goose's Panto Academy pupils, in on the fun. Kenny Millar's designs add a tongue-in-cheek element - Samantha Blaney's Jill looks like Wednesday Addams while Michele Gallagher's Fairy has a whiff of early Madonna in her gear.
Performances are already fizzing with a lovely, infectious energy while the song-and-dance numbers are a treat in themselves - come the final chorus we're all singing All I Want For Christmas is You and meaning every word.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article