Mother Goose
Duke of York’s Theatre | ★★★★★

The mercy speech from The Merchant of Venice is not generally enjoyable. Usually it is spoken by Portia to Shylock, whose Jewish barbarity contrasts markedly with Christian civility.

But here it is delivered by Ian McKellen’s big-bosomed Mother Goose galumphing around the stage with the grace of a heavyweight and with primary colour make-up that could have been applied with boxing gloves.

When the speech arrives, Cal McCrystal’s madcap panto production puts all the slapstick, bawdy triple-entendre banter on hold while McKellen calms the place with Shakespeare’s promise— ignored by every despot from Putin to Xi — that the quality of mercy droppeth as gentle rain from heaven and becomes the thronéd monarch better than his crown.

Then we’re off again with the bottom jokes. “You don’t get that with Julian Clary,” says comedian John Bishop who plays the distinctly strait-laced husband to McKellen’s Les Dawson-like Mother Goose.

MOTHER GOOSE. Sharon Ballard. Photo by Manuel Harlan

Sharon Ballard

And he is right. Up the road at the Palladium the Clary-led seasonal show may be bigger and brighter, but only in terms of lighting, not ideas which become more dog-eared by the year.

But this McKellen-led panto, which for some unfathomable reason is touring the country until April, feels as fresh as newly fallen snow.

Jonathan Harvey’s script retains the bones of traditional plot. Mother Goose is the subject of a good verses evil superpower struggle between Karen Mavundukure’s Maligna (boo) and Sharon Ballard’s fairy Encanta (‘ray).

Along with Anna-Jane Casey as the golden-egg-laying goose Cilla, they elevate the evening with awe-inspiring soul singing until Bishop and McKellen’s double act drag it delightfully down again.

When they kiss the Scouse comedian ruefully tells us that he never thought he would end up snogging Gandalph.
Other Lord of the Rings references see McKellen involuntarily slipping back into the screen role as if after all that Shakespeare he can never quite rid himself of the role that made him truly famous.

Elsewhere there are unashamedly crowd-pleasing moments. When Mother Goose gives up her animal sanctuary for a shallow life of fame, she is seen at all the world’s big celebrity events from the Academy Awards to the World Cup, during which giant inflatable footballs surf satisfyingly over the audience.

This is followed by a sequence of celebrity photos projected onto the set in which Mother Goose photobombs beautiful people including Harry and Meghan.

At this a smattering of panto booing rose into the air. If it increases during the tour this Mother Goose will not only serve as a morale boost for those caught in our winter of discontent, but in the wake of Harry’s forthcoming autobiography, a rather interesting if unscientific poll gauging the couple’s popularity.