Beauty and the Beast: The Pantomime
★★★★☆ Roar-some
Portobello Town Hall: Fri 5 – Sun 28 Dec 2025
Review by Martin Gray
There are no talking teapots and dancing jugs as Stage Door Entertainment’s Beauty and the Beast: The Pantomime comes to Portobello, but there is plenty of good-old fashioned panto fun.
There’s lovely Bella (Sarah Alexandra Brown) and her newly impecunious father Laird Murdo (Christopher Craig), settling into the small town of Porty by the Sea and getting to know baker Bonnie Scone (Alec Westwood), daft-lad-of-all-trades son Tattie Scone (Ross Jamieson) and hordes of dancing village kids.
Christopher Craig and Sarah Alexandra Brown. Pic: Malik Tajamul
But casting a shadow over proceedings is Beira, the Queen of Winter (Christine Mills), who curses Angus, Prince of the Summer Lands (Grant MacIver) to be a Beast when he refuses to be her consort. And bringing everything together via a sharp rhyming narration, the sprite Will-O’ (Erin Robertson).
When Laird Murdo is imprisoned by the newly transformed Beast after stumbling into his castle, an agreement is made that the old duffer can return home but the first creature he sees after leaving the stronghold must take his place. And as every lover of Ladybird Books knows, that’s his beloved daughter, Bella, who nobly agrees to the swap.
extra value
Writer-director Mark Kydd adds extra value to the old story by layering in Scottish elements – not just the local setting, that’s a given, but nods to such folkloric elements as Beira and Angus Óg. There’s a smattering of Robert Burns in such things as the Sonsie surname of Bella and Laird, (Oh) My Love is like a red, red rose reworked for a highland coo, Will-O’ and more.
Our narrating sprite’s rhymes are sprinkled with old Scots, and even if you don’t know the precise meaning, you get the gist. It all adds interest without overwhelming the basic tale, which is nicely told via set-piece scenes.
Ross Jamieson and Alec Westwood. Pic: Malik Tajamul
The cast members have bags of charm, none more so than the unapologetic enchantress Beira, whose rendition of I am what I am had already brought the house down before she did the splits… Bella’s punchy delivery of Katy Perry’s Roar speaks to her determination. And Bella and her Beast declare their love via one of those identikit Eighties power ballads.
McFly’s It’s all about you and Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 set up situations in jolly style, but other numbers such as Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra (also on show in the Brunton’s Wizard of Oz) feel like fillers, there to give the cast members a moment and let the kids show off their dancing skills – it was the Candy Canes at our performance, there are five other teams.
a blast of energy
Straddling the line is Will-O’s Let me entertain you (Robbie Williams, not Gypsy), which doesn’t add to the story but opens the second act with a blast of energy from the excellent Robertson.
Leading lady Brown conveys Bella’s killer combo of sweetness and determination, and looks stunning in a very Disney ballgown, while Jamieson is a delight as Tattie, connecting with the audience in a show that could do with a tad more interaction.
A scene from Beauty and the Beast the Panto. Pic: Malik Tajamul
Daffy Dame Westwood tries hard to wrangle the audience during a traditional baking business scene, helped by Jamieson and Robertson, but the rapid puns don’t catch fire, several references being so old – Mavis Cruet and the Ting-Tings, anyone? – that that the kids haven’t heard of them and the adults have forgotten them.
The best gag of the night… well, I won’t kill it here, but it gets to the heart of Bella and the Beast’s relationship, ticks the ‘local’ box and is put over with class. There’s also a brilliant bit of Big Brother business.
brooding hipster
MacIver is appropriately brooding as a hipster Beast, looking well in his velvety waistcoat and breeks, somehow charismatic under ram’s horns and fright wig. And Craig’s quiet authority means that when he gets something silly to do, it’s all the better.
Kydd’s direction is on point, with a particularly nice moment being the subtlety of the initial transformation scene of Prince to Beast. And the well-drilled youth ensemble’s costumes are a cut above average, as in the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams sequence in a spooky forest, taking their cue from Will-O’s emerald outfit. Lesley O’Brien is the person to thank there.
Erin Robertson and the junior cast. Pic: Malik Tajamul
The choreography from Aidan O’Brien and Charlotte Reid gives everyone something to do, with a particularly bright moment being Jamieson and Brown’s Friends theme dance. The music itself is masterminded by local legend Tommie Travers in fine style. The lighting design of Laura Hawkins is generally good, but a couple of times, over-bright spotlights shone into the audience during transformation scenes had kids turning round to escape the dazzle.
Beauty and the Beast is diverting family fun for the Christmas season, a fresh bake in a tale as old as time.
Running time: Two hours and 15 minutes (including interval)
Portobello Town Hall, 147-149 Portobello High St, Portobello EH15 1AF.
Fri 5 – Sun 28 Dec 2025
Various times: Mainly Fri/Sat: 2pm & 7pm; Suns: 5pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Sarah Alexandra Brown and Grant MacIver. Pic: Malik Tajamul
ENDS
