Cinderella at King’s Head Theatre review

King’s Head Theatre, Elphin Productions and Little Angel Theatre have staged North London’s only traditional family pantomime. The 250-seater theatre moved from the pub round the corner in January 2024 and has staged some wonderful shows that have stayed with me as memorable and great fun.  I hope North London realises how lucky they are to have this gem in their neighbourhood and for those further afield (like me) the trip to get there is always immeasurably rewarded.

I fully expected this production of Cinderella to be considerably more modest than the one I saw at the Palladium and would have been satisfied with a funny script and some brilliant comic timing. Let’s just say my expectation were far exceeded.

L to R Joseph Lukehurst and Maddy Erzan-Essien. Image credit CharlieFlint.

The creative team and cast are an impressive group. Written and directed by the 2023 and 2019 OFFIE Winner and 2023 British Panto Award winner Andrew Pollard the cast includes the voices of DamevJudi Dench who’s recognisable and soothing voice provide the narration, Miriam Margoylesis the Evil Stepmother and Sue Pollard is the Swan.

The villain evil stepsisters, amusingly named Dalston (Harry Curley) and Peckham. Peckham played by RuPaul’s Drag Race UK legend Ella Vaday (Nick Collier) who “is just waiting to be gent-rified” (wink wink.). Their hot tub scene is hilarious, and they have some of the best cheeky lines “I have never had my hood so winked”, “Then you can take me up the Shard”.

The story is set in Islington.  The stage frame appears to be a Christmas bauble with shimmering curtains and a village well centre stage with a pumpkin waiting to be transformed to the side. Greg Donnelly’s small but perfectly formed stage, transforms from a well, to a hot tub, a swan and a boat, wherethis version’s Cinderella hosts the Prince’s River Ball. Donnelly’s costume designs are witty with the stepsisters arriving in transformed versions of a blue and yellow Ikea bag and a Sports Direct shopper.   The pair go on to have the most eye-catching and mesmerising number of costume changes.Cinderella’s costume transformation from rags to glamour was simple yet cleverly executed.

Verity Kink. Image credit Charlie Flint.

Maddy Erzan-Essien’s Cinderella is one you can root for. She plays her role with sweet innocence and sings with a beautiful gentleness.  Her stepmother (voiced by Miriam Margolyes) calls in from Turkey where she is having multiple cosmeticprocedures, leaving Cinderella to be controlled by her wicked stepsisters. Her stepmother appears at the end as a pile of cotton wool with two large eyes on a plate. The result of having too many cosmetic surgeries (a lesson learnt!).

The Fairy Godmother is renamed the “Fairy Codmother” (Lucia Vinyard). Her sentences are a bottomless well of fishyrelated puns which are rapidly fired for the entire show - “I’m not doing it for the Halibut”, “Your life will change, no trout about it” “Why are you looking so crabby”.  Lucy Vinyard, a recent theatre and music graduate executes her role with mature confidence and a voice to match.  Fairy Codmother is portrayed as an upbeat, cheeky, charming confident character. Her multi song sequence with Cinderella & Prince Charming was clever and one of the highlights of the pantomime with songs: Rock the Boat, Hot to Go by Chapelle Roan, TexasHold ‘Em by Beyoncé followed by a Magic Mike style dance by the buff, muscle flexing Price e to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” Made me want to go out dancing post show. The Prince gets the tongue in cheek line of “My horse tossed me off”.

Verity Kirk as “Dandini,” the Italian male assistant to Prince Charming is a woman who is disguised as a man to gain power she never could as a female. She is later revealed to be Danielle of Dagenham in a funny slow-motion, long hair releasing moment. Dandini falls in love with Cinderella’s closest friend, Buttons (Robert Rees), making Buttons question his feelings for who he believes to be a man. Dandini almost gives up her secret when Prince Charming asks, ‘What do all women love?’  and shouts ‘Equality!’  with gusto. Kirk also gives a brilliant rendition of Paul Russell’s catchy “Lil Boo Thang,” song.

Lt o R Front Verity Kirk, Joseph Lukehurst, Maddy Erzan-Essien, Robert Rees Back Ella Vaday, Lucia Vinyard, Harry Curley. Image credit Charlie Flint.

Little Angel Theatre is the source of an impressive cameo of the puppet of Quackers the duck which was crafted so elegantly, and manipulated by multiple cast members and got its own laughs from the audience. Special guest stars of the stage and screen perform for the Adult Only performances. Our evening was blessed with diva singer Danielle Steers who sang before the start of the Prince’s River Ball with a spell binging stage presence. I found myself immediately googling her to track down her future performances. I could have listened to her captivating pitch perfect voice all night long.

By the time we left, my guest and I were exceedingly jolly and full of Christmas spirit. Enjoying our evening so much, I personally vowed to make this pantomime an annual event for the family.  As I had seen the “adult show” I decided to get tickets for my daughter and her boyfriend the next day. They would miss out on some of the very adult content, but I was certain there would still be enough to sustain the show without it. I was also curious how the cast juggles the two different versions of the same play without an adult version slip up in front of a theatre full of children. What a shocker that would be.  My daughter’s verdict the next day was 10/10 and gratitude. There you have it. Two generations of enjoyment and that is exactly what family pantomime should provide.

Date: until 5 January 2025. Remaining Adult only shows: 23 & 30 December 2024. Location: King’s Head Theatre, 166 Upper Street, London N1Y 1QN. Run Time: 2 hours including interval. Price: From £10 - £38.   Book now.

Review by Natascha Milsom