It was always going to be a completely bizarre night when it was announced that Sir Ian McKellen was to star in panto, alongside John Bishop in Mother Goose.
The tour began, as pantos traditionally do, at Christmas time. Yet here we were at the beginning of March on a dreary night in Liverpool, watching a show that was full of all the usual jokes and traditions that raise our spirits during the festive season.
Perhaps even more unusual was that somehow, by the end of the evening, it all felt quite right. It finished with a big smiley sing-along, everyone up on their feet, not quite sure what they had just witnessed, but delighted about it nonetheless.
READ MORE: John Bishop says Mother Goose is 'most joyful' show he's worked on
READ MORE: Book tickets to see Mother Goose on tour
But let’s rewind back to the beginning, which started somewhat unusually with Liverpool born John coming on stage to have a chat with the audience and remind them that this really is a panto and we should participate in all the usual ways. With the lights not even dimmed yet and people still shuffling around to get into their seats, he told us it felt like he was ‘talking to a bingo hall’ and joked that people always think he’s “come on to tell everyone Ian McKellen is dead”.
Once that was out the way it was on with the show and if any younger audience members - of which there weren’t many - were unsure who Sir Ian was, the huge round of applause he received when he entered the stage dressed in over the top drag, gave it perfectly away.
Sir Ian threw himself into the panto spirit, chucking eggs at the audience and strutting around in outfits ranging from a frilly nightie, to a Bet Lynch-esque bosom busting number, to a Mary Poppins-vibe maxi dress with giant hat and brolly.
It soon became apparent that Sir Ian and John made a perfectly silly pairing as Vic and Caroline Goose, bouncing off each other and dipping in and out of script at every opportunity, with little winks and one liners to the audience as the Goose family feared for their sanctuary of animals, due to unaffordable energy bills - until that is a goose began to lay golden eggs.
A slapstick baking scene in the first half saw Goose son Jack (Oscar Conlon-Morrey) take every instruction given literally and when ‘grease the bottom’ was shouted out, the scene descended into chaotic giggles as Jack got a little bit too close and personal with Caroline, causing Sir Ian to address the audience with, “that didn’t happen in rehearsals”. John was left barely able to say his next line due to fits of laughter.
The gags came thick and fast throughout the madcap night, with plenty of Tory bashing jokes that John declared “went down better here than in Chichester”. The cast poked fun at Holly and Phil’s ‘queue gate’ row and at one point we kept seeing a pop up pig named Boris with a blonde wig who loved a party.
There were plenty of Lord of the Rings references too, with John at one point nudging a Gandalf-triggered Sir Ian, “No no, you’re in Liverpool now remember”.
Looking around at the interval there were the fewest children I’ve ever seen at a pantomime, but there were just as many squeals of laughter from the older audience members, even when we got a super soaker squirting and bags of sweets were thrown at us.
The second, much shorter half, was filled with musical numbers as Caroline turned her back on her family to find fame and make new friends with amusingly photoshopped images showing her dolled up alongside new showbiz pals including Harry Styles and Harry and Meghan, before realising how much she missed Vic and her family.
Good and bad fairies Encanta (Sharon Ballard) and Malignia (Karen Mavundukure) gave strong vocal performances throughout, with punchy numbers and fun ensemble dance routines all part of the entertainment.
Before it all came to an end, we got an unexpected treat as Sir Ian recited the Quality of Mercy monologue from The Merchant of Venice giving us a brief but emotive glimpse of his work treading the boards in more than 20 major Shakespeare productions. He finished, paused, then signalled to us “that’s it”, to which he received rapturous applause.
At the beginning of the night, John had told us that after a rubbish couple of years, this show was all about having fun “just because” and as we neared the end everyone seemed to embrace that sentiment, even when it ended with yet another Sweet Caroline singalong, which really does need to be left in 2021 now.
You can see Mother Goose at the Liverpool Empire until March 4, and the show tours until April 16. Book tickets here.
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