Aladdin at the Fairfield Halls

The Transmitter takes time out from the real world to enjoy some seasonal fare at the Fairfield Halls booing the baddies and singing along with everyone else at this year’s panto Aladdin

What a complete hoot! The show starts with the opening bars of Bring Me Sunshine, and the cast and musicians certainly do just that, temporarily whisking the audience away from the cold reality of Eurozone, and warming everyone up with a sprinkling of cheer this chilly December. Or rather, not a sprinkling but a deluge, as the jokes couldn’t have come much thicker and faster in this production by husband and wife panto team Paul Hendy and Emily Wood, directed by Paul Tate.

The story, as with all pantomimes, is pretty incidental. It’s really just an excuse to cram in as many puns as possible (completed each time with drumroll and cymbal crash), as many sparkly colourful costumes as the cast have time to change in and out of (Widow Twankey’s crazy outfits were fabulous, natch) some goodies to cheer, a baddie to boo and a fairy-tale romance that we all know at the beginning will end happily ever after.

The puns, of course, are quite wonderfully awful: ‘I just saw Michael J Fox at the garden centre! I knew it was him he had his back to the fuchsias!’ but children and usually-sensible grown adults alike wallowed in the guilty pleasure of each one. Although a lot of the jokes, visual or vocal, were a little beyond the younger members of the audience, there’s slapstick aplenty and our junior Transmitter Team especially enjoyed an anarchic version of The Twelve Days of Christmas (‘Fiii-ve cus-tard pies!’) and the obligatory ‘It’s behind you!’ moment featuring a few jolly choruses of Always look on the bright side of life (and some not-very-scary lumbering Egyptian mummies).

And have I mentioned yet that lovely Larry Lamb, playing the villainous Abanazer with a fantastic sense of fun, sings! Oh yes he does! A personal highlight. Larry leads a great cast, all of whom look as if they are loving every minute of it, which is both heartwarming and endearing. There’s singing (we particularly liked their Peking laundry-based version of 500 Miles, yes really) and there’s dancing for Strictly fans, as well as fun interpretations of panto favourites the Genie (in this case, a 70s-style Jamaican love-god) and the Spirit (like, straight out of TOWIE, innit). We loved Widow Twankey (the brilliant Quinn Patrick) and Wishee Washee (the splendidly fast talking Joe Tracini) who were the master and mistress of audience participation, sharing the joy and inviting us all to laugh, shout, join in and have a great time. And guess what? We did.

Aladdin will be at the Fairfield Halls until 2 Jan 2012

Box Office 020 8688 9291

www.fairfield.co.uk

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Patsy Kensit Corner - Snow White

Churchill Theatre, Bromley

Fri 2 Dec - Sun 8 Jan

It’s always a great night out at the Churchill Theatre at panto time, and this year won’t be any different when erstwhile Strictly competitor Patsy Kensit digs deep into her dark side to play the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Sarah Lark (from I’d Do Anything) hits the right note for her role as sweet Snow White, while Barney ‘Love you, Nev’ Harwood, one-time Bear Behaving Badly favourite and now Blue Peter presenter, plays her lovely best friend. Aaah. Good choice. No panto would be complete without an evil henchman, and this year it’s David Spinx, hotfooting it from that other pantomime in Albert Square. Fantastic sets and costumes, magic mirrors, handsome princes and the odd baddie for the usual audience participation … you’ll love it. Oh yes you will.

www.ambassadortickets.com

08448 717 620 (bkg fees apply).

Win tickets to this show!

For the chance to win a family ticket to see Patsy Kensit in the 7pm performance of Snow White at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley on 28 December, fill in the missing word:

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the ___ of them all?

a) ugliest

b) fairest

c) funniest

Email your answer to editor@transmitter.co.uk (with PANTO in the subject line) before Christmas Eve stating name and contact/email address. Or on a postcard to: The Bookseller Crow, 50 Westow Street, Crystal Palace, SE19 3AF (don’t forget your contact details). Terms & conditions apply. One winner will be drawn randomly from all the correct answers, and the winner notified by the editor. Good luck!

Christmas Events Round-up

It's all over folks!

Crystal Palace Cookbook - Gingerbread Men

Photo: Catrin Arwell

Gingerbread Men

An exclusive Transmitter recipe by Rachel De Thample

These are a blast to make with children. It’s become a tradition in our house and this is my absolute favourite recipe. They are also great for decorating the tree.

Prep: 30 mins

Cook: less than 10 mins per batch

Makes about two dozen

INGREDIENTS:

• 125g soft brown sugar
• 125g black treacle
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 100g butter
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 500g plain flour
• pinch salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 170˚C/Gas 3.

Dissolve the sugar, treacle, spices and butter in a pan over a low heat, then slowly bring to the boil. Let it bubble up for a minute. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, then mix in the baking powder.

Place the flour in a bowl with the salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the cooled syrupy mixture, then add the egg. Stir from the centre, incorporating the flour until it comes together to form your dough.

Egg sizes differ as does the amount of moisture flour holds; if you find the dough is dry or crumbly, add a little milk, a tablespoon at a time, until you get the dough to come together.

Gently knead, just enough to bring it all together.

Wrap in a plastic bag or greaseproof paper and rest it in the fridge for 30 mins or until needed (it will keep for a day, but will need to be set out for 30 mins if it’s been left in the fridge longer than 30 mins). The dough also freezes beautifully.

Roll out the dough to thickness required: thicker will make the biscuits chewier, thinner more crunchy. Cut out shapes: classic gingerbread men, stars, candy canes, etc.

Use the pointy end of a chopstick to make holes for eyes and a few buttons, or decorate with currants, crystallised ginger, chocolate drops or whatever you fancy. Make a hole in the gingerbread man's head if you plan to put ribbon through to hang as a decoration.

Lay on non-stick baking sheets. They don't rise much so you can put them quite close but not touching. Bake for 7-10 mins; it can be hard to see when they're done as they're dark anyway but they shouldn't be very coloured round the edges. Take out and cool on wire rack. If you want to ice them wait until completely cold.

Recipe for The Crystal Palace Cookbook by:

Rachel De Thample