'Beauty and The Beast' - Guildford Panto Review 2025

Panto season is here once again (Oh Yes, it is!), and I saw my first pantomime of the year at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre for their Press Night of this year’s production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

Seeing the house packed out for this show so early in December was wonderful – I’ve been lucky enough to visit so many pantomimes throughout my childhood, and seeing so many families keeping this tradition alive is always heartwarming.

This year’s Guildford panto tells us the magical tale of ‘Beauty and The Beast’, a tale many of us are already very familiar with – and this retelling of the classic story was filled with festive fun, relevant comedy and some truly beautiful moments.

Something that always sticks out about panto at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, is their sense of tradition and family. No, it is not one of the biggest budgets for a pantomime that you might see this time of year, but equally that doesn’t matter. They remind me greatly of my local theatre at home in the North East, who each year put on a visually pleasing and thrilling production with advances in the tech side of things year on year – this time with flying roses, levitating beasts and sparkly pyrotechnics! It is a major compliment to writer, Jack Counsel, feeling the buzz throughout the audience when the cast finally reach their ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ gag, which appears in this one each and every year. When I first caught the ‘Arnaud’s’ panto in 2023, this was new to me and has very quickly become one of my favourite parts – if you know… you know!

The cleverly crafted script was packed with the humour of today, including references to ‘6-7’ (whatever that means?), The Traitors, and even a “Northern postie” – which had me giggling; I didn’t realise that was the way people think of us! But alongside this was an array of beautiful costumes, each one dazzling and colourful, all designed by Nancy Surman.

The cast were on top game this year, as usual.Lucy Benjamin returns once again, this time to play Agatha, the evil sorceress. Benjamin makes a wonderful panto villain that you just love to hate! Her audience interaction had us all shouting ‘Boo!’ and her Claudia Winkleman impression was stunning! It’s always good to have a villain who knows their craft as well as Lucy Benjamin does!

Due to the indisposition of Peter Gordon, Tom Miller stepped in as our dame – Madame Fi-Fi La Fou-Fou. I loved Miller’s interpretation of this traditional pantomime character; he brought a fabulous energy to the character and landed all of the humour really well… even with 7 pairs of knickers on his head at one point during ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’.

Matt Pinches is once again back as our comic, this time playing ‘Philipe Philope’ – complete with a French accent and some hilarious cheese jokes! Pinches has natural comedic timing and knows how to work a crowd, that is evident – but the genius lies in his silly little mannerisms and his bubbly character who practically runs around the stage – I don’t know how he has the energy!

Clair Gleave played the role of Belle. Her performance was lovely to watch; I didn’t feel like there was any ‘over-doing’ it, which can happen a lot during pantomime, but with the Princess role it always works to keep it honest and somewhere that the audience can connect with, and I thought that Gleave did this beautifully. She also has gorgeous vocal ability – so mastered quite a few solo numbers, perfectly.

The Beast was played by Ricky Oakley, who we saw as ‘Robin Hood’ in last year’s pantomime – Oakley’s Beast had some fantastic characterisation and really differentiated from his prince, complete with some really powerful vocals.

Misha Malcolm was Fairy Rose Red, bringing us panto magic with a wave of her wand – Malcolm had such a strength in her voice and kept us looped in on the story with her interactions. I also appreciated having an “Angel of the North” in the cast – extra panto magic points from me!

Dylan Collymore completed the leading cast as Gustav and Brother Gnasher – his portrayal of Gustav was in place of Belle’s father in the story, and he did some really funny comedy acting with his really underwhelming inventions.

Of course, the show would not be complete without an amazing ensemble who pranced, danced and leapt around the stage – executing Verity Holt’s choreography was a lot of energy – special shoutout to Morgan Saillet-Leigh for covering Tom Miller’s track as the show’s swing yesterday!

If you’re looking for a traditional pantomime in Guildford, then head to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. It is filled to the brim with hilarious jokes – a few that might fly over the heads of children but land well amongst the grown-ups – glittering costumes, songs that you’ll know and love, and a stellar cast who are giving their all into wishing you a very merry Christmas.

‘Beauty and The Beast’ is running at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre until the 4th January 2024 – so you have a full month to get there. What are you waiting for? Christmas?!Get your tickets by clicking here.

Thank you to the team at the Yvonne Arnaud for a warm welcome and for inviting me to watch your Christmas Pantomime!

3rd December 2025

Robbie Davies | Robbie’s Backstage Bants