2.12.11

Pantomime preview: Sleeping Beauty @ King's Theatre, Glasgow

Published by METRO

OK, so you know how some people think they can break society down into two different types of people? Good and evil, buyers and sellers, lucky and unlucky… Well, here’s my theory – pantomime lovers and pantomime haters.

And it really won’t be difficult to identify who’s who as the pantomime season kicks off – which happens to be tonight until January 8 if you’re employed by Glasgow’s King’s Theatre.

The venue's show this time around is Sleeping Beauty – a romantic and hilarious epic that's everything a great pantomime should be. I’m sure we all remember the story – of a princess doomed to one hundred years of sleep unless her true love can awaken her with a kiss – although perhaps not as well as Karen Dunbar.

Having played the same part in a previous production four years ago, the much-loved entertainer is back at King's for a second go as Nanny.

Joining Dunbar on stage are Gregory’s Girl actress Clare Grogan and Rab C Nesbitt’s Tony Roper, who’ll both be attracting the audience’s boos and hisses as the wicked fairy Carabosse and her heartless Henchman Hector.

Former Any Dream Will Do finalist Keith Jack, who played Aladdin at King’s in 2009, returns for the role of The Prince, while River City’s Lorna Anderson (portraying Princess Beauty), comedian Steven McNicoll (The King) and screen star Kath Howden (The Queen) complete a stellar Scottish cast.

So, are you a pantomime lover or a hater? If you were interested enough to read this far, then you’ll certainly be able to enjoy this fun and ridiculous extravaganza. Oh, yes you will!