Review: Sleeping Beauty at Camberley Theatre, Surrey
Disclosure: We were invited to see this show for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.
We love a trip to the the theatre and it’s one of our favourite things to do with the children in Camberley town centre. Christmas really isn’t Christmas without a visit to a pantomime and this year we were invited to see Sleeping Beauty at our local theatre – Camberley Theatre in Surrey.
Over recent years Camberley Theatre has undergone a lot of renovation work and it’s now such a lovely place to visit – modern with great facilities and an auditorium that gives a great view from any seat. It’s one of our favourite places to see a show and with a car park directly behind and the train station just a stone’s throw away it couldn’t be more accessible either.
As soon as Sleeping Beauty started we were sucked into the show – and it was so different to any version of Sleeping Beauty I have ever seen before. Fairy Here, Fairy There and Fairy Everywhere started the show, launching into a rendition of Aretha Franklin’s Respect which set the tone for the whole show. Really modern, with a great soundtrack and actors who you could tell really loved performing for us.
The Sleeping Beauty story was true to the classic fairytale and it was very much a classic pantomime too – with such great panto characters like Nanny Nee Naw and Muddles to keep the humour and innuendo filled dialogue going as well as Drippy the Dragon who the children adored.
Something I loved about Sleeping Beauty was that all of the jokes were well thought out, current and even geographically correct. They made jokes about towns in the local area, mentioned Brexit, Teresa May and even football teams. It was so nice to see a show that was fresh and new as well as so entertaining and with a timeless charm despite the updated songs and dialogue.
There is always a certain level of adult humour in pantomimes and I felt like Sleeping Beauty set the tone perfectly for a family audience. The adult jokes went straight over the children’s head but there was still plenty of humour that they could understand, making it a really fun and engaging show for the whole family.
Throughout the show there were parts for the children to join in with – shouting hello to Nanny Nee Naw every time she came on stage and joining in with the ‘he’s behind you’ parts of the show too. At the end of the show, before the grand finale, Muddles got the whole audience singing Baby Shark, complete with actions, which the children loved and which was an education for much of the audience.
Sleeping Beauty was full of great songs – from George Ezra’s Paradise to songs from The Greatest Showman – making it a show that you couldn’t help but sing along with. The dancing was fantastic and every scene was well acted and full of emotion – it would be hard not to find yourself immersed in the show.
At around two and a half hours including a twenty minute interval it’s a really substantial show that still managed to keep the children engaged and entertained throughout. Even young children were engrossed and looking around, it was easy to see that audience members of every age had a great time watching Sleeping Beauty and we were all a little sad when the final curtain came down.
Sleeping Beauty felt like a real night out and was a great way to celebrate the festive season. If you are looking for an outing the whole family will enjoy then definitely go and see Sleeping Beauty. It’s running all the way until the end of December and you can see full show times and more information here. It’s a show we’ll be talking about long into the New Year.
