Directed by Sue Roberts-Birch
Scenic Design - Darryl Clement
Costume Design - SkyRidge Designs, Tory Padden
Lighting Design - Adam Hughes
Composer - Christopher George

CAST
Ivan Jones
Mark Shum
Sky Williams
Marla Jo Kelly
Kevin Scott Keating
Christina Neubrand
Becca Shivers
Charli Armstrong
Silas Moores
Robert Silva

*REVIEWED 11-28-09 PERFORMANCE.

Reviewed by Mary L Clark, Associate Theatre Critic for
John Garcia's THE COLUMN

_________________________PUSS IN BOOTS__________________________

British panto in Dallas – what a fun and wonderful addition this form of theater
is to the Christmas holiday season. Having seen panto in London, I looked
forward to Theatre Britain's newest offering, Puss in Boots. It brought back to
me those memories and the hilarity of traditional pantomime.

Panto is an old style of theatre using children's stories, usually a fairy tale,
and comprised of slapstick comedy, bad jokes, risqué double entendres, audience
participation and classic characters that return show after show to the delight
of children and adults alike.

There is always the cross-dressing Dame; in history it was usually the current
favorite comedian. Drawings and photos from the late 1800's and later picture
Dames with overdone eyes and eyebrows, tremendous bosoms or posteriors; they are
the comic buffoons of the play.

The Principal Boy is a male lead played by a young woman. Principal Boys, while
still female, are costumed to look like the young heroes they portray. The
Villain is always to be booed and hissed and The Ghost turns up somewhere in the
play. It's up to the audience to warn the characters of its whereabouts.

All those elements were in place with Theatre Britain's Puss in Boots. This
fairy tale has the conventional plot. The miller has died and left property to
his three sons – the eldest got the house, the second got an as* and the
youngest, well he got an old cat aka Puss. Through cunning and trickery, Puss
manages to fool the king and the village into believing his master to be a duke
who then wins the heart of the princess and the castle formerly owned by the
mean old ogre.

Theatre Britain's production opened with song and dance by kittens, a rabbit and
one enterprising cat. Puss guided us into the ways of audience participation and
we even had a song-off between genders. The ladies won as is only right! The
panto play was going well, using all the tricks, when it was time for the Dame,
in this case Nanny Knickers. She arrived with a Telly Tubby ring of heightened
hair, emphasized breasts and rotund undergarment.

However, after the initial laughter died down, the play came to a rapid
deceleration. The dialogue was slow, the song was slower and Nanny Knickers'
comic buffoonery did not align with her exaggerated looks.

Collin, the Principal Boy in Puss in Boots was a mystery. The purpose of having
young women portray men was to allow repressed Victorian men a good look at
youthful legs. The actress, however, needed to have some appearance of a boy
and Collin did not. Fishnet stockings and high heels did not represent a man
enough to make any romance between him and the princess remotely plausible.

The script by Jackie Mellor-Guin was not able to hold the story line between all
the stops and starts of sing a longs and audience participation. Actors
struggled to revive the fairy tale each time. I do understand the idea of panto
is for audiences to join in and that the play, for once, is not the thing. But a
fairy tale should be easy to follow and this one left us lost. Some of the
difficulty also lay in the staging. Several of Nanny Knickers' laughs were
played directly upstage so that we never heard them. Dances were choreographed
facing upstage, conversations turned away and even asides were given with back
to the audience.

With the exception of Puss, the actors didn't seem confident with the material
yet. Most of the bawdy lines were spoken quickly and quietly.
The double entendres needed to be broad so that while the children were laughing
at the physical antics, the adults could laugh at the bawdy jokes. I don't
believe Theatre Britain was afraid to offend. Dallas has had a huge support base
for British comedy on television since the 70's. It was opening night so I feel
the actors will grow into the broadness and allow the comedy to flow freely.

Puss in Boots is still though a pleasant show to watch. Darryl Clement
designed a colorful page -turning storybook as the set.

A black light underwater scene with puppet fish was an unexpected delight.
Lighting Designer Adam Hughes transformed sunny country fields into a haunted
forest and back again with ease.

Tory Padden and SkyRidge Designs made appropriate fairy tale costumes with
crowns, gowns, and peasantry. I particularly enjoyed the four cats' headdress
and paws. Wig & Hair Designer Don Hall used his imagination and a lot of shellac
for Nanny Knickers' hair and adorned the princess in lovely ringlets.

Five of the ten actors in Puss in Boots play a variety of characters or are
puppeteers. Some of the highlights included Charli Armstrong, Christina Neubrand
and Becca Shivers as the mischievous kittens, Riff, Raff and Rough. They made a
great trio and their choreography, comic timing and stage chemistry clearly paid
off making them one of the more memorable parts of the play.

Mark Shum as the loud and proud Nanny, pranced and danced his way through with
aplomb. Although I so wished he had let loose and taken his role much further.

The absolute hit of the production was Ivan Jones as Philippe Ulysses Samson
Studly man the 1st or Puss. From the minute he came onstage and curled under his
master's leg, meowing lazily, he held the audience firmly in his paw. Though we
were a bit slow to respond, Jones soon had us shouting out the duke's name each
time it was uttered, yelling warnings to the characters, singing and booing as
good panto audiences should. He pirouetted, flipped, did cartwheels and tumbled
with ease and had an instant rapport with the audience. Jones understood the
true heart of panto and as the saying goes he was worth the price of admission.

Puss in Boots is an appropriate show for children but adult enough to bring the
parents. It's a good alternative to all the Christmas Carols and Nutcrackers out
there. A funny aside – Theatre Britain won a Dallas Observer Award for Best
Intermission Edibles. The concession stand holds candy and crisps directly from
Britain making this sweet night of theatre even sweeter.

Reviewed by Mary L Clark, Associate Theatre Critic for
John Garcia's THE COLUMN

___________________________________________________________________

PUSS IN BOOTS
Theatre Britain
at KD Studio Theatre
2600 N. Stemmons, #180
Dallas, TX 75207
Through December 20, 2009

Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm and Saturday/Sunday
matinees at 2:30 pm.
***Added performances on Wednesday, December 16 and Thursday, December 17 at
7:30 pm.
Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for students and seniors and $8 for children
under 14. Group discounts are available.
This play is intended for all ages and runs approximately 90 minutes with
intermission. For information and reservations call 972-490-4202 or go to
www.theatre-britain.com