Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Buy your tickets here. The last performance is on Monday 3rd January 2022.

It's great news that panto is back after the past year and Sleeping Beauty at De Montfort Hall is the perfect performance to get back into the groove of things. This is a lighthearted show packed with silly jokes, sining, dancing and crowd interaction that is bound to get both kids and adults laughing and on their feet. 

I spoke to a few parents at the show who were thrilled to be back and enjoying the pantomime. Every single one of them said that they'd never miss a pantomime at De Montfort Hall as they're so enjoyable for not only their kids but themselves too. They all really enjoyed this year's showing of Sleeping Beauty.

De Montfort Hall's version of Sleeping Beauty is a re-telling of the classic story where Princess Rosa (played by Natasha Lamb) is cursed by the evil fairy, Carabosse (played by Coronation Street's Cilla Battersby Brown: Wendi Peters) to prick her finger on a spinning wheel. The show explores how the characters try to avoid this happening but fail, resulting in a quest to defeat Carabosse to bring back Princess Rosa. 

Wendi Peters and Jerred Christmas who played the Jester really put on stellar performances in their own way. Wendi played a compelling role, holding the audience in the palm of her hands as the villain of this pantomime. Jerred was comedic throughout the whole performance and made an effort to involve the whole crowd including a man on the front row who was invested so much that he got up and danced down the isles!

Sleeping Beauty is a truly magical experience and I don't just mean the atmosphere. Prince Pablo is first introduced as a magician and performs several tricks throughout the show that mesmerise the audience, particularly the younger eyes!

Packed with parody's of well-known songs that everyone in the audience will know at least one of, the ensemble are also worth mentioning. Small but mighty, the effort and dedication this collective put in add an extra something to the show. King Alfie (played by The X Factor finalist, Andy Abraham) was also a brilliant soloist and really belted out some impressive notes. 

With some impressive shouting of 'behind you' and 'oh no we're not' from the children in the audience, it was easy to see that the younger generation in the audience were clearly having the time of their lives.

This is a show not to miss this festive period so make sure you get yourselves tickets here to see Sleeping Beauty at De Montfort Hall before 3rd January!