| What: Jack and the Beanstalk — A KickstArt Theatre Production When: July 3–27, 2025 (includes shows on Sundays) Where: Pam Golding Theatre, Baxter, Cape Town Bookings: Webtickets Running time: 150 minutes – 70 mins first half, 60 minutes second half and 20 minutes interval Cast: Includes – William Young, Blessing Xaba, Bryan Hiles, Brent Palmer, Roshanda Lewis, Liesl Coppin, Lyle Buxton and Samantha Landers. Director: Steven Stead Designer: Greg King Choreographer: Naoline Quinzin Revival lighting designer: Franky Steyn |
Jack and the Beanstalk, the panto is on in the Baxter Pam Golding Theatre from July 3–27, 2025 and is a lot of fun with loads of audience participation. Steven Stead and Greg King of KickstArt Theatre in Durban note in the programme that it is the first pantomime that KickstArt is presenting in Cape Town but it is the company’s 23rd panto. They have created 21 pantos in Durban and two in Johannesburg. Hopefully the company will stage other pantos from its extensive repertoire in Cape Town. We have waited a long time for KickstArt pantos and Jack and The Beanstalk is here for the winter holidays – much needed entertainment for the little ones. Note – there are shows on Sundays – unusual for the Baxter.
I thoroughly enjoyed this lively panto with fine performances, colourful set, lighting, costumes and puppets and a happy ending. No one dies. Everyone lives happily ever after. Traditional pantomime features songs, music, topical gags and slapstick, framed around an interpretation of a fairy tale and this production has all that with a witty script full of Saffa and international isms. There are gags about TikTok, influencers, WhatsApp, contemporary cultural references and songs.
Blessing Xaba is a hoot as Dame Flora Flatbroke – the mother of Jack Flatbroke – aka Jack of the Beanstalk. The delicious Dame channels Barry Humphries’s Dame Edna Everage as Jack’s mom, imploring him to sell the family cow, Buttercup (played by Carl Oosthuizen). Dame Flora jibes that they bought Buttercup from a farmer in Dubai – a milk sheik/shake. A panto caters to all ages and the balance works well in this production – keeping the young ones entertained and giving the older others something to chuckle over.
Waterfront Theatre School graduate, William Young brings a vitality and friskiness to Jack who gets scammed by robbers into selling Buttercup for a handful of beans. Lucky for him, they turn out to be magic beans. Brent Palmer as Claude and Bryan Hiles as Cecil – are a delight as they clown and muck around and their comedic timing, like Xaba is fabulously droll. Talking of channeling, Lyle Buxton is fabulous in his rendition of Blunderbore, the giant, with a hearty Scottish accent. His performance reminds me of Shrek the Ogre.
It is a long show. Act 1 is 65 minutes and act 2 is 50 minutes. The interval is 20 minutes. The littlies seemed fine so it just shows that attention span is generally in good shape. I think that it could with trimming – especially the first half. The 2nd half is set in the wondrous plus-size lair of Blunderbore. Greg King conjures up magic with the scale of Blunderbore and the furniture in comparison to the underlings. Fab. I loved the vibe of hand-drawn scenic design, rather than AI generated imagery. For example, the oven with oven mitts and cloths riffs off a play aesthetic. Play is foregrounded in this scene. The protagonists are playing in this wacky oversized space. Blunderbore is lovable and once his migraines are fixed, he is sorted and no longer a threat. This is not a scary Jack and the Beanstalk. By the way, the giant is a vegetarian.
There is audience participation throughout the production which keep the young ones engaged. Palmer and Hiles in particular, get into terrific shtick mode and charm the audience. They also do a quick change into a burger (Palmer) and hotdog) Hiles. I won’t plot spoil but it terrific fun – a scene stealer: “Next time, I will order Uber Eats.” See pic on this page – for the zany burger and hotdog costumes.
The singalong song at the end get everyone vocalising: “Why does a brown cow give white milk when it eats only green grass …that is the burning question … I don’t know – you don’t know”. The words of the song are printed on a roll down screen and riffs off an ol’ school vibe – simple but effective. A lovely finale scene wraps up this fun and entertaining production. I was unable to attend the opening and today, Saturday July 5, on a rainy and cold afternoon, there was a standing ovation.
✳ KickstArt’s Jack and the Beanstalk, Baxter, July 3–27, 2025. Photos by Val Adamson. Supplied.
