Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Pig?

Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Pig

JW3

Four stars

There is every reason to believe that JW3 will succeed in their ambition to mount a Jewish Chanukah panto every year. For the first, Nick Cassenbaum’s suitably knockabout script plays delightfully fast and loose with two fairytales imbuing both with a Jewish sensibility that makes this seasonal offering unlike any other on the theatrical landscape.

© Jane Hobson

With a tumbling Bubbah (Tiago Fonseca) and a vegan Wolf (a naturally very funny Lauren Silver) the evening is anchored by Gemma Barnett’s earnest, climate change-campaigning Red and elevated with rising methane gags by Debbie Chazen’s flatulent Dame, a one-woman wind farm exploited by Josh Glanc’s porcine, power-hungry energy magnate.

In the early stages of the show too much time is spent in front of a curtain instead of exploiting the depth of JW3’s stage. But other than that Abigail Anderson’s production is exactly the refuge from real life anxiety that we all need. Enjoy.