St Timothy’s Beauty & The Beast – 30 January 2026, St Timothy’s Community Hall
St Timothy’s annual panto is a true community panto with 40 named cast members (congratulations to whoever came up with all there often hilarious names) as well as 10 children playing animals and many more helpers behind the scenes all drawn from the church’s local community, as well as collecting donations for a local foodbank and it being sold out for all three shows without the need for advertising outside of the Church community (before this year I have never come across it).
But it is not just about being at the centre of the community that makes it a community panto as it made the most out of every member of it’s onstage community, giving them all a chance to shine whatever their age, and sharing the family friendly comedy between them all, showcasing that they all have confidence and a talent for comedy, whilst also offering so much more than most current pantos, from a panto horse (which feels like a classic component but now is much rarer than expected), to the two biggest, almost full cast, panto chase sequences I have ever seen, a talent competition (including a dancing invisible man) and even (delighting me as it’s firmly in my top 10 favourite films of all time) The Blues Brothers.
Of course all pantos have a comedy double act and it feels wild that no one has thought of turning them into Jake and Elwood before. Simon Kay and Matt Johnson are loving it as much as the audience. Popping up at multiple random points through the show on their mission of hope to get the band back together and leading to my six year old daughter humming their theme on our way home. The friendship between the two shines through and they both had great stage presence, personality and energy and their finally of “Everybody Needs Somebody” was superb. In their mission to get the band back together you had the other lovely comedy double act of the show, Shelley Theaker as Wardrobe and Rachel Anderson as Lampstand, whose friendship again shone through and confirming that more mature women can be funny.
However my favourite performances of the night came from the ring obsessed Esmeralda L’Witch, played superbly by Jo Owens and reminiscence of old school Disney witches. Jo’s performance would not be out of place in any panto, her cackle was amazing and she also had the best make up of the night; and Peter Wigglesworth as Gavison LeReflux (I mentioned there were some brilliant character names) who keep up the smooth arrogance throughout without leading to the audience having heartburn.
James Ryder as “What’s Cookin’ Mrs Higgins” made an elegant and charming dame that I instantly warmed to and with the best rainbow eye shadow I have ever seen. My only issue was not with them but with the script as the jokes about dieting and looks felt too self-deprecating in an era of trying to encourage body confidence and with one of the most slender dames I have seen. They also had superb natural chemistry with philosophical romantic handyman John McGardiner (played by James Creed-Gosling) and his box of fruit and vegetables which will inspire Valentine’s Day card designers everywhere, and their lovely duet of “We Belong Together” showcased their chemistry and was one of my musical highlight of the evening. My other musical highlight came from James Saunders as Curtis T’Blues whose rendition of “Minnie The Moocher” was almost identical to Cab Calloway’s performance in the 1980s film.
Of course you cannot review Beauty and the Beast without mentioning the two title characters. Lizzie Makin as Bella Silidad was lovely in the role possessing the warmth needed for the role and the natural chemistry with those around her. David Townsend as Prince Beast definitely went on a journey with the character, pre-transformation being almost as arrogant as Gavison and superficial before turning cannibal during his five years as the Beast (cannibalism in a family friendly panto might not be the expected but David made it work) to literally a changed man both in looks and from the natural kindness of those around him.
Two other characters I must mention are Hazel Bryce as Belle’s father Bel Silidad, who captured the brilliantly dimness of the character whilst also proving to be not as dim as they make out in their slow motion escape scene from the clearing; and Kate Rogers-Kay as the “Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza Fairy G We Need To See Ya!” Fairy Godmother who had the maternal children’s entertainer about her. Like many of the characters both were accompanied by their own lovable sidekicks, Bel Silidad by pantomime horse Concord played by Barney Rogers-Kay and Seb Taylor, who were well co-ordinated on the night and were also success as the Sheffield equivalent of Little Ant and Dec (Ant McDec and Dec McAnt); and the Fairy Godmother’s fairies in training, who my daughter loved for their sweet distribution and audience dusting and had one of the best choreographed routines of the night with “Good Is The New Bad”. Two other ensemble numbers that I must mention are the 10 youngest cast members as the Beast’s woodland animal friends routine to “Everything Is Awesome” and the act two ensemble routine to “Trip A Little Light Fantastic”.
The multiple script writers and script editors must be praised for their fun family friendly panto script that works for multiple cast members and provides something for everyone without the need for adult humour, whilst the co-directors and assistant directors and choreographer and junior choreographers got the very best out of one of the largest panto cast’s I have seen on one of the smallest stages.
Although this year’s panto is sold out, St Timothy’s delightful annual panto is definitely one to check out if you are live in and around Crookes and are looking for a family friendly community panto, though if you have small children I would definitely aim for the Saturday matinee as the run time of the opening night made it a late night for our little one.
