It has been years since master magician Kalibali disappeared, but as his son Aladdin reaches the magical age of 12 years and 12 days, his absence hangs heavy. The boy and his mother struggle to keep the family firm on the road: Kalibali’s House of Magic is all floppy wands and failing cup-and-balls. How can the fumbling Aladdin hope to live up to his father’s reputation?
The slumming-it Princess Jeannie sees through him. Worse, he is ripe for exploitation. The man claiming to be his Uncle Barcaza offers a shortcut to the riches of adulthood: all he has to do is venture into Hairy Bob’s Cave (rather more voluminous than the Scarborough tourist attraction of the same name) and retrieve the treasure.
Playwright Nick Lane, freely adapting the version by Hanna Diyab, is attuned to the coming-of-age shape of the tale. Played with earnest enthusiasm by Matthew Koon, Aladdin lets down his mother (Jessica Dennis), fails to impress Jeannie (Ash Weir) and falls for the false promises of the evil Barcaza (David Ahmad), a baddie who has maturity issues of his own.
For all its serious themes, however, this Aladdin falls in the middle ground between panto and Christmas show. On the one hand, we get to hiss and boo, join in with the spells and clap along to the reworked pop songs (Our House, Shake It Off and, naturally, Abracadabra). On the other, it is a bijou piece of storytelling theatre, performed by a bright and hard-working team of five, with a focus on the slightly convoluted narrative.
Despite Carl Patrick’s turn as an extravagantly camp Genie with a Michael Bublé fixation, and Weir’s splendid race through the audience as a chicken, the show is no match for the comic anarchy of a full-scale panto. At the same time, it does not take itself seriously enough to capitalise on the story’s emotional stakes. The narrative drives us towards a family reconciliation that is too rushed to carry any weight.
Still, Gemma Fairlie’s production is brisk and cheerful, boosted by a series of eye-popping costume designs by Helen Coyston, ranging from a pair of demonic playing cards to a very hairy Hairy Bob.
• At Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough, until 28 December
