If you weren’t already aware that He’s Behind You! make queer, adults-only pantomime, the subtitle for this year’s show, Beauty and the Beast, is ‘A Horny Love Story’ – which would probably give the game away. Set in the (sadly) fictional Scottish town of Lickmanochers, which of course neighbours Suckmacoch, it is a loose retelling of the classic tale, which many will be familiar with from the 1991 Disney movie. Of course, there’s a fair amount of artistic licence in this adaptation, written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper.
We’re introduced to our wee gay hero Bertie (Matt Kennedy), his lesbian twin sister Bonnie (Laura Ann-Mead) and their mother Flora (Matthew Baldwin, returning as the dame). Also returning to play the villainous Cornelius is the fabulously camp Chris Lane, and Keanu Adolphus Johnson plays the titular Beast.
Honestly, it’s absolutely hilarious: this is a show full of smut and innuendo, with the jokes coming thick and fast. Once again stealing the show, Matthew Baldwin deploys expert comic timing and changes into a preposterous array of over-the-top outfits. The songs are wonderful, too: there’s an amusing reworking of ‘Be Our Guest’ from the Disney movie, and towards the show’s conclusion we are treated to ‘On An Oil Rig’ – a pastiche of ‘In the Navy’ by Village People – which is one of the gayest displays we’ve ever seen.
It’s a show which knows its audience well. This is the team’s third outing at the Charing Cross Theatre – although it’s the same creatives who staged the panto at Above the Stag for many years before that theatre closed in 2022 – and they now have this to an art. It’s full of filthy innuendo and lots of brilliant references which go down a treat with the (largely) LGBTQ+ audience; there are also a handful of intelligent pop culture references thrown into the mix, as well as a few surprisingly niche Scottish jokes, and even a withering putdown of Sigourney Weaver’s turn in The Tempest to make the theatre luvvies chuckle.
We had an absolute blast with Beauty and the Beast – we always enjoy these pantos at the Charing Cross Theatre but the team have really knocked it out of the park this year. Essential queer viewing.
GAY TIMES gives Beauty and the Beast – 5/5
More information can be found here.