• London
    • All
    • Plays
    • Musicals
    • Dance
    • Performance
    • Cabaret
    • Circus
  • Edinburgh
    • All
    • Plays
    • Musicals
    • Dance
    • Performance
    • Cabaret
    • Circus
  • Rest of World
  • Features
  • Team
  • Contact
  • Follow Us

  • Home
  • London
    • All
    • Plays
    • Musicals
    • Dance
    • Performance
    • Cabaret
    • Circus
  • Edinburgh
    • All
    • Plays
    • Musicals
    • Dance
    • Performance
    • Cabaret
    • Circus
  • Rest of World
  • Features
  • Team
  • Contact

Buttons: A Cinderella Story, King’s Head Theatre, review

November 29, 2018

Charles Court Opera’s alternative panto offering of 2018, Buttons: A Cinderella Story, is on the money – impressing with a talented ensemble, quality production values and enormously funny (if not-so-innocent) gags.

The King’s Head Theatre is onto a winner with Buttons: A Cinderella Story, with versions suitable both for young kids and ‘adults only’ – and an excellent cast who each make their mark right from the beginning. Some stand out for their ‘face pulling’, others for genuinely impressive voices – and all for pulling off the countless naughty gags peppered throughout an enormously funny production from Charles Court Opera.

Cinderella’s teddy – Buttons, until he’s given a similar but ruder nickname – is the unlikely hero of the acclaimed company’s twelfth panto venture. He (Matthew Kellett) is adored by his glass-slippered owner (Eleanor Sanderson-Nash), and does everything he can to prove he can be more than just a teddy to her… Director John Savourin plays the thoroughly loveable dame, ‘Mumsie’, and elsewhere, Jennie Jacobs demonstrates ample flair for comedic acting as a millennial Prince Charming ‘down with the #MeToo movement’ for little reason other than to win Cinderella’s affection. Cue the much-needed unearthing of that truth, and the revelation of his shady side.

The music, costumes and choreography match the rest of the performance – with regards to both quality and entertainment value. Only in adult pantos like Buttons: A Cinderella Story can you expect to see someone in a fully-stuffed teddy bear costume singing Radiohead’s Creep to a sleeping Cinderella, spectacularly silly hip-hop parodies and the words ‘gender normative’ to be thrown around in the same show as a lot of pastry. This sophisticated and silly, in equal measure, alternative telling of the glass-slippered princess’ story impresses for being outlandish, fun, embracing and building on well-loved panto conventions and for its healthy dose of not-so-innocent jokes.

Share

Featured  / London  / Musicals  / Performance

Harriet Cooper
Harriet studied Modern Foreign Languages at the University of Edinburgh, and was lucky enough to get to discuss 17th century French Theatre at great length. She insists that it was better than it sounds. She carried over this interest from the page to stage, following student theatre and fringe shows. After graduating she went on to teach Cultural Studies at the University of Rouen. Now she’s based in London and has finally taken up dancing salsa and bachata, which is what she wishes she could do all day.

You might also like

Boris The Musical 2: Brexit Harder, King’s Head Theatre, review
June 3, 2019
Trump: The Musical, King’s Head Theatre, review
June 1, 2019
The Crumple Zone, King’s Head Theatre, review
December 2, 2018

Leave A Reply


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


  • Home
  • Reviewers
  • Invite Us