Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Pig

JW3

Four stars

There is every reason to believe that JW3 will succeed in their ambition to mount a Jewish Chanukah panto every year. For the first, Nick Cassenbaum’s suitably knockabout script plays delightfully fast and loose with two fairytales imbuing both with a Jewish sensibility that makes this seasonal offering unlike any other on the theatrical landscape.

© Jane Hobson

With a tumbling Bubbah (Tiago Fonseca) and a vegan Wolf (a naturally very funny Lauren Silver) the evening is anchored by Gemma Barnett’s earnest, climate change-campaigning Red and elevated with rising methane gags by Debbie Chazen’s flatulent Dame, a one-woman wind farm exploited by Josh Glanc’s porcine, power-hungry energy magnate.

In the early stages of the show too much time is spent in front of a curtain instead of exploiting the depth of JW3’s stage. But other than that Abigail Anderson’s production is exactly the refuge from real life anxiety that we all need. Enjoy.