Cinderella will go to the ball – only first she’s got to help her horrible stepmum with a disgusting vegan dinner. Co-writers Chris Bush and Roni Neale have given Cinders a modern festive twist, complete with a magical microwave and a memorable costume change inside a fridge. As you’d expect from Bush, the script is witty and heartfelt, but it’s also overly complicated, caught somewhere between truthful play and slapdash pantomime.
The Rose is committed to giving young actors a real shot on the main stage and the cast is largely made up of members of the Rose Youth Theatre company, as well as six professional actors. The young performers are, on the whole, very good. A trio of cheese-obsessed mice rap, chatter and charm us all, and Jack Fernie is scene-stoppingly good as a deliciously camp and amazingly convincing cat, Mr Bingles.
