Adie syndrome

THE pantomime season has begun. The creaking fairy tales with their feeble jokes, puns, clumsy double entendres, dames, horses and tawdry sets will shortly be playing nightly at a local theatre near you. We all love the pantomime - oh yes, we do.

Tonight is the opening night of the Notting Hill Gate panto and it is not like other pantos - oh no, it's not.

The grandest village pantomime in the land has been financed by London's smart literary and artistic set.

The charity for Russian children with Down's syndrome has taken the first night as a gala and patrons include Cherie Blair, Kate Adie and Ralph Fiennes.

Mick Jagger, Griff Rhys Jones, Stephen Fry, Michael Aspel and Ian Hislop are among the guests expected at The Tabernacle tonight.

Tim Rice and bigwigs from Sony and EMI will be there, while a seat is being reserved for Tony Blair.

The show's leading man is Edward Tudor Pole, former lead singer with Eighties punk band Tenpole Tudor.

Will Keen, the Shakespearean actor described as "the new Kenneth Branagh", is the nearest thing the production has to a pantomime dame as he sings counter tenor in an 18th-century manner. The show was written by Evelyn Waugh's grandsons, Alexander and Nathaniel Waugh, while Anna Chancellor (Duckface in Four Weddings and a Funeral) agreed to direct it. The choreographer is Rita Henderson, who worked on The Morecambe and Wise Christmas shows.

The Notting Hill pantomime has been running for the past decade. Its audience has usually been more famous than the cast which was made up of local celebrities from the media and fashion world. But last year pressures of work meant there was no Notting Hill show.

This year, however, Alexander Waugh - son of the writer Auberon - asked Anna Chancellor if she would direct his musical in place of the annual show.

Alexander and Nat Waugh had written a musical called Bon Voyage, a bawdy farce about the world's first luxury cruise that ends in tragedy. Nat had sketched out the plot and Alexander wrote the baroque-style songs. It won the prestigious Vivian Ellis Award for best new musical in 1996. It was, thought the Waugh boys, only days before the laurels would arrive - the spoils of Waugh, as it were. In fact, they have spent the last three years trying to promote Bon Voyage. They even made a demonstration CD that was handed to Chris Evans one morning. He played one song on his Virgin show before flogging the disc to a second hand record shop in Camden.

In a twist to the usual village pantomime fundraising, the Waugh brothers produced 50 limited edition copies of the script. These they offered to friends and acquaintances in the celebrity, arts and media world "at any price". The plum, if it can be called that, was that if the show were a success the books would become valuable.

IT was probably kindness rather than shrewd investing that prompted Lucian Freud, Muriel Spark, Lord Lambton and other famous comedians who wished to remain anonymous to send large cheques. Harry Enfield, who received his edition as a wedding present from Auberon Waugh, wrote back to Alexander saying he was not sure he wanted to buy another copy but "was staggered' by Auberon's generosity.

Within six weeks, the two would-be theatrical impresarios raised more than 24,000. With a final budget of around 50,000 (the rest was coming from ticket sales) the hall was hired and casting was under way. Then disaster struck. There was a row.

Anna wanted to produce the show "in the round" but Alexander did not. The result was that last month Anna quit.

In desperation, Alexander went to an old family friend, Simon Ward.

He recommended a new young director, Richard Baron, who had just finished directing Mindgame at the Vaudeville Theatre. Next spring, he will be directing The Thirty-Nine Steps in the West End.

"It's a great show, with all the ingredients," said Baron. "The cast are excellent, the tunes are wonderful and it has lots of people being clubbed over the head with sticks.

It's got villains and heroes, a love interest, eroticism and loads of bottom and farting jokes."

In fact, everything you need for a traditional, provincial Christmas pantomime. But don't tell that to the clever men and women of Bon Voyage. It is one thing for a show to be celebrity-driven, high camp and ironic, and quite another to admit to it being "fun for all the family".

Bon Voyage runs from 13 to 17 December at The Tabernacle.

Matinee performances are on 14, 16 and 17 December. Some tickets are available at 16 for evening shows and 12 for matinees. Box Office: 020 8749 4750 or 020 7565 7800.

Copyright 2000
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