{"id":645153,"date":"2025-12-20T23:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T23:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/645153\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T23:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T23:45:13","slug":"review-jack-and-the-beanstalk-festival-theatre-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/645153\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Jack and the Beanstalk, Festival Theatre Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Taking their final bow at the Festival Theatre before the long-awaited return to the King\u2019s across the Meadows, Edinburgh\u2019s panto triumvirate make sure they go out with a bang in this giant of a production this Christmas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The warning comes early on \u2013 Robbie Williams\u2019 Let Me Entertain You is a verbal contract with the Edinburgh audience and this variety-style show doesn\u2019t disappoint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vast auditorium of the Festival Theatre \u2013 the huge temporary home for Allan Stewart, Grant Stott and Jordan Young while their Leven Street residence gets a well deserved makeover \u2013 is no problem for this panto-de-force to fill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every crevice is bombarded with a wall of sound, dazzling lights and a brilliant neon set fresh from the London Palladium stage. It\u2019s a visual and audio spectacle like no other \u2013 truly the biggest (in all senses) resident panto in Scotland, and matched in scale by its production value.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, the vehicle for the relentless comedy sketches, jokes that would make your granny gasp and musical numbers comes from its incredible star turns.<\/p>\n

Pretty legs and great big boobies \u2013 that\u2019s Edinburgh\u2019s legendary Dame Aunty May (Dame May McTrott, this year), inimitably portrayed by Allan Stewart. Stewart delivers a masterclass in panto damehood; perpetually in control, delivering big brash numbers and dangerously risqu\u00e9 humour by the bucket load. You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find anyone doing it better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

May McTrott\u2019s glakit son Jack (Jordan Young) raves his way into the hearts of the wee ones, with an energy and sense of fun that\u2019s infectious. His Tom Cruise-inspired desire to do his own stunts results in a truly heroic climb up the beanstalk that defies gravity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gail Watson\u2019s Spirit of the Beans is magic \u2013 literally. With a sprinkle of fairy dust, Watson is a feisty dose of magic to take us on this Pantoland adventure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For all the good, every panto needs a baddie \u2013 and Grant Stott\u2019s Fleshcreep (shoosh, listen\u2026) is deliciously devilish. This guy might be the Giant\u2019s henchman, but he\u2019s really a figure of fun for Dame May, Jack, Jill (beautifully played by Amber Sylvia Edwards) and the crew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible not to be overwhelmed by this unbelievable show. The only restraint from panto perfection is its narrative \u2013 or lack thereof.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pantomime often plays fast and loose with plot, but Jack and the Beanstalk does an incredible job of ignoring it completely, stripping the show of structure \u2013 beyond the massive jaw-dropping beanstalk, that is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Does it need it? It just about gets away with it, such is the genuinely awesome spectacle of it all. It\u2019s amazing what a musical interlude and some cracking jokes can do!<\/p>\n

At its heart, Jack and the Beanstalk is a giant pantomime of epic proportions. It\u2019s loud, outrageous and in your face. It\u2019s a festive delight that is a fitting final bow for panto at the Festival Theatre. Roll on the return to the King\u2019s!<\/p>\n

Jack and the Beanstalk at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until 11th January 2026 \u2013\u00a0https:\/\/www.capitaltheatres.com\/shows\/panto-2025-jack-and-the-beanstalk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Douglas Robertson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f Taking their final bow at the Festival Theatre before the long-awaited return to the King\u2019s across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[198054,748,1102,150759,4884,169821,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-645153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-allan-stewart","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-grant-stott","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-pantomime","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115754560789471977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645153","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=645153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}