In this season of festive family entertainment, it is always cheering to find a show that isn't content merely to aim low for a quick parental buck. For at Hackney, things are value-added all the way.
The theatre didn't need to employ a four-piece band, or provide original songs, but it does. The script didn't have to be this sharp, but it is. Energy, a fine singing voice and an array of sumptuously over-the-top costumes are not strictly obligatory for a dame, but Clive Rowe has them all. And then some.
Susie McKenna has done a fine job streamlining this tale of over-exuberant vegetation. Her prologue, containing a cumbersome back-story, is unwieldy and confusing, but as soon as the action transfers to the picturesque village of Hackneydale, everything bursts into life.
Rowe makes his entrance in a twinkling sleigh drawn by a pantomime cow; the cow then proceeds to tap dance. This is what Christmas in the theatre should be.
Matt Dempsey's vigorous Jack is well matched by cheerful chums Billy (Terel Nugent) and Off Her Trolley Molly (Tameka Empson). The 12ft animatronic giant is a thing of wonder, but so, on a mortal level, are his extremely green henchmen, Broad Bean (McKenna herself) and Runner Bean (Michael Kirk). The parents laughed, the kids booed happily. Handfuls of sweeties to all involved.
Until 7 January. Information: 020 8985 2424.
Jack And The Beanstalk
