{"id":604162,"date":"2025-11-30T22:40:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T22:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/604162\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T22:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T22:40:30","slug":"jack-and-the-beanstalk-adults-version-kings-head-theatre-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/604162\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack and the Beanstalk \u00a0( adults’ version)\u2013 King\u2019s Head Theatre, London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writer and Director: Andrew Pollard <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s typical to see the Dame of a panto steal the show, but this is absolutely true in the case of Victoria Scone (of Drag Race fame) in this year\u2019s Jack and the Beanstalk at Islington\u2019s King\u2019s Head Theatre.<\/p>\n

Following last year\u2019s Cinderella, Andrew Pollard is<\/strong> back with another family panto, again with the interspersal of \u2018Adults Only\u2019 evenings alongside family-friendly ones. But unlike last year, the \u2018adult\u2019 element seems to be woven throughout this production. Not just the odd swear word; it\u2019s dirty jokes, naughty call-and-response, and filthy innuendos that follow Jack (Elliot Baker-Costello) from his mother\u2019s ice cream shop \u2013 the Pink Coney Club \u2013 up the beanstalk to save his crush Jill (Priscille Grace) from the giant and his evil accomplice Nightshade (Joseph Lukehurst).<\/p>\n

Mia Ito Smith as Fairy Flick-My-Bean (Fairy Fullobeans, for the children\u2019s shows) offers encouragement to Jack and Jill and some excellent vocal leadership as the cast sings through some of this year\u2019s hits, as well as some classics. Smith even managed a solid performance of Golden from KPop Demon Hunters \u2013 a difficult sing but performed well by this cast. How many pantos across the country include shaky renditions of this song? Possibly most of them.<\/p>\n

But it is Jack\u2019s Mother, and owner of Pink Coney Club, Dame Trott, who steals the show. Storyline in a panto isn\u2019t the most important thing, and this iteration of Jack and the Beanstalk particularly neglects it, but it doesn\u2019t matter when Victoria Scone is on stage. Although not the greatest vocalist in the ensemble, the crowd work, the stage presence and the energy Scone brings to each scene were hugely fun to watch. And not to forget the many excellent costumes; Eve Oakley\u2019s work shines on stage for all the performers, but particularly for Dame Trott.<\/p>\n

There are parts of the family-friendly show that slip through to the adult audience and are completely lost on them. For example, a \u2018chicken jockey\u2019 reference (which this writer had to Google) is met with complete silence, but encourages a funny ad-lib about the age of the audience, bringing the energy back. It seems it\u2019s hard to find the family-friendly balance, even when you divide up adults\u2019 and children\u2019s shows.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s festive, fun and has something for everyone. What more do you need from a panto?<\/p>\n

Runs until 4 January 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t70%<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSomething for everyone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writer and Director: Andrew Pollard \u00a0It\u2019s typical to see the Dame of a panto steal the show, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[189373,748,189374,393,189375,4884,189376,189377,189378,257,189379,169820,189380,6080,2764,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-604162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-andrew-pollard","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-elliot-baker-costello","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-eve-oakley","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-jack-and-the-beanstalk","15":"tag-joseph-lukehurst","16":"tag-kings-head-theatre","17":"tag-london","18":"tag-mia-ito-smith","19":"tag-panto","20":"tag-priscille-grace","21":"tag-review","22":"tag-theatre","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115641059455437027","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}