Last night was the opening performance of ‘Jack,’ the annual pantomime put on by Marjon’s 2nd year Acting students. And let’s get one thing straight: this is not your average pantomime.
‘Jack’ is a musical/slapstick/horror that follows an array of famous Jacks through one particular Jack centered story. However, there is just about every Jack you can imagine; Jack and Titanic Jack, Jack and Jill Jack, Jack the Ripper Jack… Oh yeah, there’s a lot of them.
Following panto tradition, ‘Jack’ features a dame, women playing the ‘romantic lead,’ and – ugh – audience participation. Nothing too strenuous, but you will be up out of your seat, singing and dancing along, in one of the most innocent moments of the entire show.
The adult humour comes thick and fast, with innuendo after innuendo making the audience giggle in delight. While pantomimes often throw in the odd dirty joke, to keep parents entertained throughout a kid focused show, ‘Jack’ is pretty much entirely adult humour; the Dame is a prostitute, there’s a strangely sexy turkey, and just. So. Many. Dick jokes. Endless dick jokes.
Song choices included musical numbers from Shrek the Musical and Les Miserables, as well as some other, raunchier choices. Each song was performed, and, somehow even ‘On my own’ from Les Mis, every song was hilarious.
A huge shout out to the Acting students – their dedication to this show was clear to see, from Scarlet GB Potter, who was in a cow suit for 10 hours, to Ryan Burle for maintaining an excellent Geordie accent, to Tom Bliss who literally ate egg shell.
‘Jack’ is everything an adult could want from a pantomime – it’s funny, gripping, decidedly sexy and gruesome in equal measure, and, above all, it’s christmassy. The audience were decked out in christmas jumpers, full of christmas spirit and mince pies, and with everyone bellowing “Oh yes he dids’,” and “he’s behind yous’” at every possible opportunity, it really did feel like the start of the holidays.
‘Jack’ is being shown again tonight 7:30pm in the Desmond Tutu Theatre on Marjon campus. The price is pay what you can, and there is a full bar, plus mince pies. What more could you need on a cold, Thursday night?