Review of ‘Robinson Crusoe’

Oh she does like to be beside the seaside...

by Rich Wood

ONCE again, panto season is in full swing in Lane End – ‘Oh, no it isn’t!’, ‘Oh, yes it is…’ – and the LEP deliver with their usual good humour and self-assurance. As is the tradition of pantomime, the plot has only a tenuous link to the title; although there is a shipwreck and the Crusoe family features prominently, it also has elements of Treasure Island, various television programmes – both past and present – and the usual menagerie of heroes, villains and halfwits one would expect in a production of this ilk. Oh, and a monkey in a birdcage…

It follows the trials and tribulations of the Crusoe brothers as they embark on a quest for lost treasure to the West Indies under the dubious command of Captain Perkins and his hapless crew. Also on board is the extrovert matriarch of the Crusoe clan accompanying Polly Perkins, the Captain’s daughter and Robinson’s paramour. Along the way, they encounter a demon oil slick, get washed up on an island inhabited by cannibals, fall under the spell of black magic and are confronted at every turn by the notorious Black Patch and his pirate cohorts.

With so many and varied main characters, it is impossible to single out any one performance and the numerous costume changes of the chorus helped to further the illusion that it was a production much bigger than its village venue, despite the fact that a glance down the cast list reveals the active involvement of at least two generations of several local families. From the suitably appropriated musical numbers, garish costumes and bawdy humour to the various topical references and adlibbed asides it certainly ticked all the right boxes for the genre.

As the season nears its end, making way for the Lane End Players’ more dramatic pieces, I have no doubt that the show’s catchphrase will live on long beyond the final curtain close… one, two, three – HANDS OFF MY MONKEY!