FringeReview Scotland 2025
Jack and the Privately Owned Beanstalk
Theatre 118
Venue: Theatre 118
Festival: FringeReview Scotland
Low Down
Living in Trongate, Jack and Silly Billy and their maw, Dame Trott, are facing eviction due to the rents being increased by the local tyrant, King Stefan. Both siblings go aff tae sell their coo. So far, so good. They go to market but come back with cryptocurrency, which is thrown out whilst the fairy, who bought he coo for crypto, has cast the spell that grows the beanstalk. On their way they encounter a strolling minstrel with a ukelele they strum who becomes Jack’s love interest. Without the budget for a giant in this makeshift theatre space, we are treated to the bodies being put on trial, found guilty and peace reigning on the people of Trongate thereafter. All done with the usual fanfare of Panto, this, whilst it may have holes in its narrative, makes up for it in infectious enthusiasm.
Review
Theatre 118 bring the curtain down, if they had one, on a successful November run of performances. They can therefore be more than forgiven for the holes that do exist in terms of both performance and script. With a live band on stage and the boundless energy of the entire cast to behold, an audience well up for the night made it a night to remember.
Theatre 118 have given a platform to local emerging theatre makers and here again what we get is though they are down at heel they are not lacking in ability. And so, we have a Dame cracking along with standard groan fest Panto jokes, siblings with a rivalry that shall be overcome, a coo with a voice and deadpan delivery and baddies who are steeped in local folklore. Of subtlety, there is hee haw, but it is a panto.
And so they perform standard panto business, cannae afford the microphones to amplify their singing – some of which was great – and the beanstalk appear to have, in the year that Glasgow won tree of the year, a pale imitation of one, and dance with more fervour than rehearsal, they just have a good time, invite you to join in and when we all do, we all have a great time. Panto innit? We all joined in on My Maw’s a Millionaire, we got the ghost taking people away, Silly Billy, Jack and her future beau and wife, battling against the odds, a man dressed up as a woman who has a son who is a woman chasing another woman. Panto innit?
It was a celebration of the end of a successful year for Theatre 118 and therefore should not be judged over harshly. I felt however that when you’re coming back next year and name checking JK Rowling that you’re going to defeat, it was a bit unfortunate, that you also had the theme tune from Benny Hill in one of the chase sequences. Maybe it was unfortunate that you had someone in the audience old enough to remember…
Panto requires you to be at the top of your game maintaining crazy momentum and we got patches of that with an audience who brought it over the line. The future is however where many of the eyes of the actors on stage are no doubt focused. And so, the year comes to an end for Theatre 118 and the doors are, temporarily we hope, closed on this enterprise. What we do hope is that it returns with the equal to what they have provided in 2025. November was the second time they’ve had a run of performances and all power to their elbow.
