Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Emma Grace Arends, Chantel Cole, Lindzi Germain, Adam McCoy, Lydia Rose Morales Scully, Andrew Schofield, Keddy Sutton. Liam Tobin.

Band: Ben Gladwin, Jack Hymers, Greg Joy, Chris Nicholls, Mike Woodvine.

Excellence rarely comes as a surprise, the joy of the eternal is forever and unequivocally stands on its own legendary status, and for the creatives, the cast, and the audiences that will make their way to the Royal Court Theatre between now and the new year, The Scouse Red Riding Hood theatrical offering is as ever one of tremendous and fantastic irreverence to the staid and the cautious that grips the stony hearted and loosens the funny bone with the skill of a night with Liverpool’s own Ken Dodd and a large dose of double entendre at his disposal.

Written by Kevin Fearon and directed by Mark Chatterton, The Scouse Red Riding Hood unburdens caution and allows, insists that the superb cast attend to the needs of farce, to the essentials of the Christmas season which require huge jokes, sauciness, and wonderful ridicule to the beige placed at the door of a terrifically adept script in which to have us tackle the dark nights and the howling of the world by laughing directly at the hungry wolf of bleakness that stalks the unready.

The beauty of the music driven performance is in its appeal, of taking the much loved and giving it satirical teeth, and in the genius comic hands of Lindzi Germain, Keddy Sutton, Andrew Schofield, and Liam Tobin, the wonderful hands of the younger cast on stage, and the excellent band that gives groove to the proceedings, what is unveiled is a night of sheer mirth, of glee that is profound and digs deep into the soul, and one that is absolutely required at a time of our lives when the wolf is not just a comic creation, but one that is a metaphorical reality.

Taking a lead perhaps from one of the most superb stage farces of all time in Noises Off, it is to the generosity of the script that Chantel Cole as the put upon stage manager gives a fantastic performance, one that is greeted with respect and passionate humour from the audience.

The wolf may be at the door, but as the family and friends of Red Riding Hood’s Grandma rally to her cause what is for all to see this winter is a comical and uproarious offering for all, fun, hilarious, and a howling success at the Royal Court.

Ian D. Hall