Review: Sleeping Beauty | Beacon Arts Centre panto
- Lisa in the theatre
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 12 hours ago
Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock hosts returning Scottish TV and panto favourites Jane McCarry, Mark Cox, Jimmy Chisholm and Lee Samuel in Sleeping Beauty which runs at the venue until 31 December 2025. Read my review below.
Sleeping Beauty, Beacon Arts Centre ★★★★☆
Review: 11 December 2025
Sleeping Beauty, the pantomime at the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock this Christmas, looks just as impressive as any of their counterparts in Glasgow or Edinburgh. With spectacular sparkling costumes and sets, and the most stunning lighting from Simon Hayes, Sleeping Beauty instantly transports the Inverclyde audience to a magical, faraway land.
This year's family friendly panto at the Beacon is full of traditional pantomime fun, and lively music and dance numbers which envelop the beloved fairytale of Sleeping Beauty, which has been remodelled for the pantoshphere by the imaginative minds of writer Alan McHugh and director by Tony Cownie.
Queen Morag (Rachel Flynn) and King Hector (Mark Cox) send their beautiful daughter Princess Aurora (Rachael Kendall Brown) off to live with Nurse Nellie MacDuff (Jimmy Chisholm) and her son Muddles (Lee Samuel) far away from the clutches of Morag's jealous and evil sister Carabosse (Jane McCarry.)
Carabosse, always assisted by sidekick Slimeball (Mark Cox), has placed a curse upon the princess so that she will one day prick her finger and die. When Aurora meets a handsome prince (Charlie West) in the forest, they fall in love and he gifts her a spinning wheel for her birthday. True to the prophecy, Aurora does indeed prick her finger, but thankfully her mother has placed a counter-curse which means that rather than being fatal, the princess instead falls into a deep sleep that can be awakened by true love's kiss.
Jane McCarry is a real contender for the best baddie in the pantosphere this year
The Beacon have their returning power foursome of Jane McCarry, Mark Cox, Jimmy Chisholm and Lee Samuel leading this year's panto who, already enduring audience favourites, have really settled into their roles. Lee Samuel is a magnetic, unstoppable ball of energy who instantly gets the kids on his side and who doesn't drop his performance below 100 mph for the entire show. Bouncing off Chisholm's more sullen and sulky dame, who seems particularly provoked by the Brownie pack in the front 3 rows, the pair race through a mix of some inspired, but also some genuinely awful, stale jokes and set piece routines. It's a real mix and not everything lands, but that doesn't perturb them for a second. A highlight is their beautifully written and expertly presented sketch where Nellie teaches Muddles how to speak to a potential love interest.
The fabulous Mark Cox plays dual roles this year as the forgetful King Hector and as Carabosse's bumbling sidekick Slimeball. Slimeball could be the twin-brother of Cox's 2024 panto character Snotbag, wig and all, but this year he has a number of rather brilliant magic tricks to contend with. No one is more surprised than Cox when the tricks actually work, and it's such an endearing, heartfelt performance that the audience are always going to be won over by this irrefutably likable performer, even when supposedly playing a baddie.
Jane McCarry is in her element as the evil Carabosse. She was iconic as Isa in Still Game but she may have found her true calling as a pantomime baddie. Delightfully over the top and utterly boo-able, McCarry has the stage presence and talent to pull off full musical theatre numbers and devilish laughs, all while acting her socks off and antagonising the kids in the crowd. Her musical numbers "I put a spell on you" and "You won't survive" supported by the brilliant troupe of Beacon dancers are true showstoppers. McCarry also has the best costumes in the show. A real contender for the best baddie in the pantosphere this year. Just brilliant.
The Beacon throw everything at their 2025 pantomime
With the difficult job of actually telling the core story this year Rachael Kendall Brown has stepped into Princess Aurora's shoes last minute - but you would never know that from her assured, delightful performance. Charlie West's cool, confident Prince Angus is also expertly realised by the gifted theatre star, and the two do a great job of giving depth and presence to characters who often take a backseat in their own story at panto time.
Rachel Flynn is mesmerising as the lovely Queen Morag which considering her character is a) dead and b) not usually a main player in the Sleeping Beauty story, is some going! But the creative team at the Beacon have shrewdly made the most of her exceptional talents; her performance of the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey classic "When you Believe" is spine-tingling. An unmitigated superstar, Flynn's exquisite voice and bewitching stage presence add a further air of quality to this ambitious production.
With contemporary pop songs, unescapable memes, magic, sparkle and even a dragon (woohoo!) the Beacon throw everything at their 2025 pantomime, ending the night with a singalong to the crowd-pleasing, unofficial anthem of the Scotland football team and then a finale to a buoyant K-Pop Demon Hunters pop anthem that ensures you will be dancing out of the theatre come home time. With first-rate production values and a hard-working cast, Sleeping Beauty at the Beacon is a high energy, full throttle production that delivers an unbelievable amount of entertainment in two hours this Christmas ★★★★☆
Sleeping Beauty plays at the Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock until 31 December 2025.
MORE: the best pantos & Christmas shows to see in Glasgow and the surrounding areas this Christmas https://www.lisainthetheatre.com/post/glasgow-christmas-panto-2025
MORE: Find more Scottish panto & Christmas show reviews at: https://www.lisainthetheatre.com/panto
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