Though it used to be among the most popular of pantomimes, Mother Goose is now not often performed. It may be due to the lack of an immediately recognisable fairytale, or the scarcity of geese capable of laying golden eggs. Yet it is arguably the piece with which the modern concept of panto came to be defined.
Mother Goose was the signature role of the great Victorian cross-dresser Dan Leno – a comedian once described as possessing “the saddest eyes in the world” – who created for himself one of the most dramatically complex dame’s roles in the repertoire. That moral ambiguity is brilliantly seized upon by Berwick Kaler, a comedian who might be said to possess the maddest eyes in the world, and has done more than any other slapstick connoisseur to preserve and extend Leno’s legacy.
Now up to his 36th York pantomime, Kaler continues to martyr himself to the cause of family entertainment. He gets dunked, hoisted, soaked, squished and seems to have a natural attraction for every custard pie that arrives on stage. Yet the crux comes when he asks the audience whether he should sell Priscilla the goose in exchange for unlimited youth and beauty. It’s the sole example in panto lore of the dame seeking the opinion of hundreds of juvenile counsellors, then completely ignoring their advice.
It has to be said that the Faustian deal offered by David Leonard’s Dreaded Lurgy is difficult to resist. Absent for the past two years while on loan to the RSC’s Matilda, the owner of the tightest spangly pants in panto-land is back on the boos and naturally has some ribbing to endure. “This isn’t a comeback, it’s a comedown,” Kaler retorts. Yet, if the price of the goose is sufficient vitality for another 36 York pantomimes, it sounds like a pretty fair deal to me.
• Until 31 January. Box office: 01904 623568. Venue: York Theatre Royal.