PANTOMIME is an infinitely flexible form. Anyone who doubts that should go and see Mother Goose, starring Sir Ian McKellen and John Bishop, which will be going on a nationwide tour until just after Easter. As well as the staple ingredients of songs and slapstick, this panto, currently at the Duke of York’s, London WC2, has subversive political gags, Shakespearean quotes and even a sly endorsement of same-sex marriage. Directed by Cal McCrystal—who annually masterminds the gorgeous Giffords Circus—and written by Jonathan Harvey, it is, above all, a celebration of the seemingly ageless Sir Ian.
He gags about Orcs and tap-dances to We’re in the money
I once compared him to and reminds us that he has spent a lifetime playing Shakespeare. He declares, like Cleopatra, that ‘I have immortal longings in me’, quotes King Lear and touchingly renders Portia’s ‘The quality of mercy’ speech. When Mr Bishop responds with a Shakespeare sonnet, someone quips: ‘You don’t get that with Julian Clary.’
