... NOTTINGHAM 'JACK AND THE BEANSTALK' THREE animals--one of them real--add to the attraction of Tom Arnold's Jack and the Beanstalk at the Royal. There are the joint antics of Phyl and Jimmy Yuile in the skin of Jessie the Cow, the shaggy rogueries of Billy Purvis as Bingo the Dog, and the squawking of a genuine piglet, calmed by a feeding bottle and a lullaby from Reg Dixon. The Coventry ...

... WESTCLIFF 'PUSS IN BOOTS' RDONALD BRANDON and Dickie Pounds presented Puss in Boots, with book by Joseph R. Lahey and Dickie Pounds and lyrics and music by Charles F. Tovey at the Palace on Boxing Day. In this version everything is done to keep the plot in sight all the time, the humour and specialities falling naturally into place. There is full scope for the dancers in a ballet on the ...

... PERTH 'CINDERELLA' LIBERALLY spiced with comedy, attractively garnished by lovely costumes and colourful settings--and served up to the accompaniment of catchy song and dance numbers--Perth Theatre Company's own sparkling production of Cinderella has provided something special in the way of seasonal fare. When it is considered that the company had only a fortnight's rehearsal, the ...

... OXFORD 'LITTLE MISS MUFFET' JACK HYLTON and Emile Lilller's Little Miss Muffet at the New owes a considerable part of its success to the endlessly inventive antics of those superb grotesques, the Cairoii Brothers, Charlie, Paul and Jimmy (the woebegone dead-pan member of the trio who achieves some devasta- lingly comic effects by the absolute j minimum of facial expression and bodily ...

... EASTBOURNE 'MOTHER GOOSE IF the idea is prevalent that traditional pantomime is played out, there are hundreds of Sussex folk who would need no second invitation to come forward and argue to the contrary. This statement can be substantiated by the success attending the presentation at th: Hippodrome of Mothei Goose. This is pantomime in the best provincial tradition. It is well staged ind ...

... WINDSOR 'BABES IN THE WOOD' ONE of the places where the best traditions of pantomime are respected is the Royal, where an authentic Babes in the Wood, with book by Mary Kerridge, has been devised and presented by John Counsell. As asual there, Duncan Lewis plays Dame: and, as usual, his ex- j cellcncc merits his popularity. Amusement must be tempered with genuine affection at the way he ...

... FOLKESTONE 'ROBINSON CRUSOE' ROBINSON CRUSOE, with book, music and lyrics by Stanley Willis-Croft, which opened at the Pleasure Gardens on Boxing Day, is proving a most successful pantomime. With Avril Angers as a vivacious Robinson. Eddie Reindeer as the Dame, George Martin as young Billy Crusoe and Ovsie Noble as Man Friday, it has a wealth of comedy and vitality to make it ideal ...

... PLYMOUTH 'PUSS IN BOOTS' FEESTOONED with fun and all the traditional trappings, Emile Littter's tenth pantomime at the Palace has, as well, charming qualities quite its own. Costumes and settings are frequently of exceptional appeal, and a good effort has been made to avoid confining tunes for singing and dancing to the ordinary run. The chief dispensers of comedy, Syd and Max Harrison, as ...

... DERBY 'JACK AND THE BEANSTALK' A DERBY pantomime is always an outsize box of good things, ensuring pleasure for both children and their escorts. Hippodrome patrons have come to know this fact throughout the years, and this S. H. Newsome presentation, which opened on Christmas Eve, does not belie the guarantee. It is good, all-round homely pantomime, in spirit, spectacle, and comedy, and, ...

... CHESTER 'JACK AND THE BEANSTALK' 'THROUGHOUT Teddy Carlton's 1 long associations with the Royalty he could scarcely have pro duced a pantomime of greater colour and attraction than this year's Jack and the Beanstalk. The essential ingredients of pantomime have been put into the production. Lilting music, the comedy antics and tricks of the comic trio the Dame, King Coddcm and Simple Simon ...

... PORTSMOUTH 'RED RIDING HOOD' DESCRIBED as a fun and games pantomime, the presentation by Dick Ray and Harry Dennis which opened at the Empire on December 26 certainly lives up to that claim. Producer Dick Montague appears as the red-nosed Dame Trot and keeps the slapstick scenes moving at a robust pace. He also leads the audience in the singing of the tongue twister, Sixty-seven Single Sets ...

... LEICESTER 'ALADDIN' PRINCE LITTLER'S Aladdin at the Palace is marked by brightness, briskness and an all-round exccllence. Leading the comedy is Leo Franklyn, and his Widow Twankey is in keeping with his great reputation as a character comcdy actor. Joan Bailey as Aladdin, and Jean Scott as the Princess, look well, sing well, and completely satisfy. Of course we must have an Abanazar of ...