Theatre review: Cinderella, Perth
Cinderella - Perth Theatre
* * * *
It’s typical of the inspiration O’Riordan has brought to this lovely Victorian theatre over the last two years that she has chosen a Cinderella which nods gracefully at this melancholy mood, before looking forward to a bright future.
Alan McHugh’s version of the tale is set in a run-down theatre, The Palace, where Cinders slaves in an attic wardrobe department while her nasty stepmother, Cressida, hatches a plan to run the theatre into the ground, mainly by letting her ghastly daughters Luvvie and Darling appear in every show.
Advertisement
Hide AdThe story otherwise follows a conventional path, as Anne Kidd’s fairy godmother rhymes her way around the building and nearby woods, making sure Helen Mackay’s beautiful, wide-eyed Cinders meets her Prince, and that the course of true love eventually runs smoothly.
Along the way there are many rich and gorgeous aspects to this good-looking show, with Barrie Hunter in rip-roaring form as the leading ugly sister, Luvvie, and the local jokes coming thick and fast. Becky Minto’s sets introduce a note of dusty, lyrical beauty sadly lacking in most Scottish pantos this year, and Ewan Donald makes a strong and gifted Buttons, set to inherit his beloved theatre when Cinderella marries her prince.
It’s Buttons who delivers the epilogue, reminding us that the theatre belongs to all of us, on stage and in the auditorium; and to judge by the warmth of the applause, Perth Theatre’s audience will be ready and waiting when the lights go up again in 2016.