This is our review of Mother Goose Cracks One Off! at Liverpool‘s Epstein Theatre!
Synopsis Of Mother Goose Cracks One Off!
Take a classic pantomime, add some dark humour and adult-only content, and voila – Mother Goose Cracks One Off! This tale follows Mother Goose and her ambitious dream for beauty, but can she succeed while keeping everything she holds dear? Will Demon Vanity take over the world? And will Billy finally get the Princess in his bed? Leave the kids at home, date night just got panto-fied! Starring Jim Burton-Iles as Mother Goose, Liam Mellor as Billy, Robert Squire as Demon Vanity, Eilish Stout-Cairns as Fairy Hanny, Byron Witchell as Piles, and Felicity Cowell-Clark as Princess Jill.
Analysis Of Mother Goose Cracks One Off!
For one night only, Adult Panto visited Liverpool on their tour of the UK to share a rather vulgar tale. This show has all the classic panto elements but is twisted into a very rude and crude adult-only production. If you can’t take a dark or sexual joke, this is definitely not the show for you. However, if you’re up for a hearty laugh and love an innuendo, this will be right up your street!
Right from the start of the evening, the audience was thrown into the chaos and much hilarity ensued. Plenty of moments involved audience interaction just like your typical pantomime, but this wasn’t so sweet and innocent. In Act 1, Billy and Mother Goose ask the audience for a name for their new Goose friend. One man shouted “Rim Job” and the cast ran with it! As you can imagine, this became a very funny element throughout the show as the name was incorporated into the script.
Laughing
Another particularly funny moment occurred at the end of Act 1 when Fairy Hanny made herself laugh so hard during a solo number that she was unable to continue singing. In fact, she couldn’t even stand up straight, and the audience was creased alongside her. There is something wonderful about mistakes during a pantomime and this show was no exception.
Unfortunately, not everything went so well. The audience wasn’t as animated by every call and response, which made life harder for the actors. A lot of this could be the difficulty of an adult-only audience – not many adults are comfortable getting involved in the way children would at the theatre. Thankfully, they worked with this and laughed at their own misery with plenty of expletives.
Dancers
What cannot go unmentioned is the dedication of the ensemble. All four performers did an incredible job: they were hilarious, danced wonderfully, and put comedic adlib into every chance they got. Some moments had me unable to watch the main actor on stage because a member of the ensemble would be thrusting behind them or making hilarious facial expressions. The two men in particular were outstanding – they’re certainly meant to perform on stage, particularly in comedies and pantomimes!
Summary Of Mother Goose Cracks One Off!
On the whole, this show was thoroughly enjoyable. Yes, there were a lot of awkward moments, but is this not the key element of a pantomime? Despite working with a tough audience, the actors worked their asses off to give a good show. So long as you don’t mind fake orgasm sounds, seeing a dildo get flung across the stage and sexual innuendos aplenty, you’ll have a hilarious night at the theatre. Take the chance to see this production as it makes its way across the UK. So, make sure you book your tickets to see Mother Goose Cracks One Off!
