THE GRINCH - THE PANTOMIME (2025), THE DOVEHOUSE THEATRE, solihull

Dovehouse Theatre. 5 December 2025

Director: Deb Lowe. Choreographer: Amy Evans. Musical Director: Seth Evarts.

Based on the famous character created by Dr Seuss, this is a lovely old-fashioned pantomime, complete with all the terrible jokes, the pantomime Dame and audience participation.

There was such a great atmosphere, and we roared at the small mishaps such as when the Dame messed up a punchline, laughingly correcting himself. Somehow this made the joke even funnier. Likewise when the Grinch couldn’t get his Santa beard off. We loved it when they called up children from the audience and gave them sweets, and squealed when they came out with water guns and soaked us all. It was filled with fun from start to finish.

Youth Onstage outdid themselves, as they always do, and I was glad to see well-known faces on the stage, along with some newcomers. Every single member of the company was brilliant and, as much as I’d like to give accolades to the whole cast, the group is too big to mention everyone. The opening scene with all the residents of Whoville singing and dancing was wonderful and really set the scene.  Musical direction was excellent and it was easy to see the cast was well-rehearsed.  The big numbers were great, such as when Leticia Thorpe-Brown’s ‘Widget’ sang ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’ with the elves. There were songs galore, all done SO well, and aptly changed ever so slightly to fit in so well with the panto.

The second half opened with a puppet show. This was excellent and so well done. The puppeteers were invisible in black and all we could see was the puppets, and the faces of The Grinch and Pinchit, eerily lit by torches. They sang, danced and operated their puppets so well, in complete darkness, while clad in black from head to toe and with never a single misstep. Absolutely amazing!

Mark Cornaby made a fantastic Grinch. He was perfect in his grumpy rudeness, and the audience really enjoyed booing at him. It was lovely to see Layla Rogers taking on a bigger role. She has such promise and comes across as very confident. Her voice is lovely and strong, both when speaking and singing.

Jack Chambers was just great as the dame, Nora Good. I was very sad to hear that this was to be his last show with YOS but he bowed out on a really strong performance. He was hilarious from the very start and the audience couldn’t get enough of him. He was perfectly camp. James Berryman, as always, was excellent in his role as Charlie Chuckle, and Ebony Jones gave a lovely performance as the Snow Queen.

I loved the vibrant, colourful costumes, especially with all the glitter in the scene at the Snow Queen’s palace. 

Deb Lowe’s direction is always flawless, and this one was no exception.  The whole cast looked as if they were enjoying themselves and it was clear just how much the audience enjoyed it.

I leave every Youth Onstage performance looking forward to the next one, and this one was no different. This group really does take some beating. I smiled all the way home. Thank you Youth Onstage, for another really fantastic show