Jack and The Beanstalk Trip Report from P6 Books and Beyond

We recently went to see Jack and The Beanstalk at the Alexandria. It was a very enjoyable experience because it was very funny and involved the crowd a lot. We were surprised to see that when Jack came onto the stage he was being played by a girl. However, we easily came to like this unique change.

We thought she had a very high quality of acting. We were also a fan of the fact that it was different. However, some people were overheard saying that they found the female Jack strange as they found it difficult to remember that she was playing a man. This got us thinking about men playing women in pantomimes.  This is easily accepted whereas women playing men is not seen as positively. During William Shakespeare’s times, females were not allowed to act in plays. This may have influenced modern day people’s views on women playing men.  However, we dislike the fact women playing men is not as easily accepted as men playing women.

We also did not like the fact that her outfits were extremely feminine even though she was supposed to be a male. For example she was wearing extremely high boots and a very short dress. She was also wearing very bright and sparkly dresses which most men would find inappropriate.  When men are playing women, they go over the top to make themselves look feminine but they did not emphasise that she was playing a male character through her attire.

We believe that if you are going to have a female playing a male then you should over emphasise that she is meant to be male using her appearance and acting. Another solution is to adapt the play script so that instead of a male jack, we could have female adaptation with a name like Jackie so you would have an actress playing a female. It would be interesting to see the show again but with a complete gender-role reversal, meaning that we would have a female jack and a prince instead of a princess. They could also have the princesses saving the day rather than being the damsels in distresses.

Despite all of our creative changes, we would still enjoy going to watch the show again.

By Callum Walters, Jessica Gethins and Sarah Westgate (Books and Beyond)