By Adam Penford
Nottingham Playhouse
28 November 2025–17 January 2026

What do you look for when considering which panto to take your family to? Do you go for one with recognisable stars whose names are a considerable draw? Or do you opt for one which has the usual glitter and glamour but with mainly local talent who throw themselves into a production?

In Nottingham, panto-goers can choose between Cinderella featuring Craig Revel Horwood at the Theatre Royal or Sleeping Beauty at the city’s Playhouse. The only actor you might know in Sleeping Beauty is Jon Elkington, a legend locally who is appearing in the show 27 years after his first panto at the Playhouse.

The theatre’s artistic director Adam Penford, who wrote and directs Sleeping Beauty, considers Elkington to be “the best dame in the land”. Others might dispute that, but there’s no doubt Elkington knows how to engage with an audience. His cheeky humour, even though some of the jokes are ancient, gets adults and children laughing with him.

As Nelly the Nanny, his costumes are magnificent, the best being a frock covered in breakfast items, a dress made up of large versions of Cadbury’s Roses and the costume of a belly dancer with a huge stomach. He gets a huge cheer when sending sweets into the auditorium and doesn’t forget those in the circle, whacking them right to the back with a tennis racket.

Later, he claims the show needs an understudy and gets a member of the audience on stage. He tells her Nottingham is famous for its football and pretty women before cheekily asking her: “what position do you play?” The audience lapped it up.

The Playhouse takes pride in the fact that the scenery, costumes and props are all created in Nottingham for the people of Nottingham. Three of the cast, Danny Hendrix, Lara Sas and Seb Harwood, are from the East Midlands, while the young chorus come from across Nottinghamshire. It gives Sleeping Beauty a local, comfortable feel.

The three East Midlanders are particularly strong. Hendrix gets everyone on his side as cuddly Teddy the Bear even though by the end of the evening the response “to see you nice” to his proclamation “nice to see you” grates somewhat.

Sas revels as the wicked Maleficent, while Harwood almost steals the show as a cocky, arrogant, over-the-top Prince who makes Harry Enfield’s character Tim Nice-But-Dim appear educated.

With Charis Alexandra as Fairy Lights, Yasmin King as Princess Rose and T J Lloyd as the King throwing themselves into their roles, Sleeping Beauty is a joy to behold, as far as the audience on press night was concerned.

The younger members particularly enjoyed a “slosh” routine when Nelly is “helped” by the Prince and Teddy to make a cake, only for her to be covered in ingredients which come down a chute when she’s not expecting them.

Although Sleeping Beauty is well put together and enthusiastically performed, the story isn’t the most enchanting. Penford and his team do their best to make it as magical as possible, with a fire-breathing dragon, clever effects and the audience participation you expect from a panto.

Sleeping Beauty will no doubt attract 40,000 people to the Playhouse this Christmas. It will go down well. Perhaps it could benefit from a little more chaos. To me, it seems a safe production rather than an adventurous one.

* This review originally appeared on the British Theatre Guide website