A Clever Desi Pantomime for all the family
“Even white people are getting married at first sight!”
Babloo
Rifco Theatre who brought us Frankie goes to Bollywood have dipped their toes into the seasonal treat of a British pantomime. This is a pantomime with the difference using Desi culture, featuring Bollywood dance and Bollywood songs from PBN. What makes this pantomime special for me is its suitability for children and adults, without any of the uncomfortably filthy humour we tend to get in adult British pantomimes. The other thing I applaud is in its multi-cultural production values and in not perpetuating the myth that girls will only be happy if they marry a handsome prince.
The Artistic Director and head of Rifco, Pravesh Kumar has been planning this Surinderella pantomime for some time and it has a delightful blend of storytelling, music, dance and humour. The traditional pantomime dames, they’re called Lovely (Neil Varu, who has tons of experience as a pantomime dame) and Bubbly (Raheem Payne a first time dame) are played by men with wonderful costumes and splendid wigs in many colours. There is no Principal Boy, a male hero played by a girl in tights, but you will find that very few British pantomimes have a girl in that role today.
The show is introduced by the Devi godmother, played brilliantly on the night I saw it, by Natasha Bacarese-Hamilton the understudy. As she is a Goddess godmother she has a gold ornate headdress and a gold costume but can disguise herself as an ordinary old person if needed. Her casting into the air of gold sprinkles is a little bit of magic.
Our heroine is an orphan called Surinder (Sonya Venugopal) who lives with two stepsisters in the house left to her by her father. Sonya Venugopal is a triple threat, singing, dancing and acting radiantly. The outrageous sisters are Lovely and Bubbly and would not be your favourite relatives because they are very selfish and greedy but of course, we can find them funny. They make Surinder do all the housework and laundry.
This is obviously based on the story of Cinderella but Surinder will meet her prince in disguise in the local woods which are called the Bolly-Woods. Taken from another fairy tale, Prince Ravi (a tall and very handsome Rory Dulku) swaps clothes with his servant Babloo (Dhruv Ravi) and it’s when he is disguised as peasant, he first meets Surinder. This adjustment assures us that Surinder is not a gold digger as she likes him before she finds out he’s a prince.
The final and most charming member of the cast is Basanti (Leela Kapil and Kuldeep Goswami) Surinder’s pet cow who can flutter her eyelashes, wiggle her ears and talk. She is udderly divine. Both Cow operatives are transformed for the ball into beautiful women in ball gowns with cow print stoles. The costumes are amazing. When we first meet the Ugly Sisters, they wear trousers printed with their own faces in columns. It is they who give Surinder the nickname Surinderella.
Surinder goes to the woods and says “I am so hungry, I could eat a whole paratha.” She is given two apples but she gives them away to an old woman who is starving. She meets the prince in disguise and confesses she finds him, “a tad precious!” but he comes back from this encounter saying he is in love but not knowing where to find her.
Back in the big house, Lovely and Bubbly are organising their cosmetics. They have a long list of facial treatments and giant versions of mascara, lipsticks and powder puffs. Sadly Lovely has give away hairy arms and Bubbly has forgotten the Nair for her moustache and beard! There are topical jokes, comparing arranged marriages to dating apps or quipping that white people are getting Married at First Sight.
For the Prince to find Surinderella, he decides to ask everyone in the area to the Bolly-Wood Ball but Lovely eats Surinderella’s golden invitation. The sparkling palace set is impressive. The sets are the traditional painted backdrop, easy to change and move from venue to venue. The Ugly Sisters call themselves influencers and interact with social media like TicToc and Insta and talk about vulnerability in relationships.
Devi Godmother intervenes to get Surinderella to the ball and produces a magical red ball gown with lighting up hoops underneath. The sisters threaten to turn Basanti into a VindaMoo and there is a great cow chase. Midnight strikes and our heroine flees leaving behind a pink sequinned trainer. Seeing how Lovely tries to get this shoe to fit is very novel.
I loved the music: PBN’s songs are very accessible, some partially in Hindi with verses in English but with a lively rhythm. The dance has some modern, as well as the traditional, and there is audience participation using pointed fingers Bollywood style. I thought the singing from Sonya Venugopal and Natasha Bacarese-Hamilton, very high like in the Bollywood movies, was very impressive but the whole ensemble were strong.
The ending is particularly fresh and not one feminist mothers could object to. For the strides made in this multi-cultural pantomime, for its fabulous dance and singing, and sheer enjoyment I am happy to award Surinderella five stars for innovation from Theatrevibe, the site that doesn’t do stars.
Production Notes
Surinderella
Written by Pravesh Kumar
Songs by PBN
Choreography by Anna Maria Barber
Directed by Ameet Chana
Cast
Starring
Sonya Venugopal
Raheem Payne
Neil Varu
Rory Dulku
Bhavani Sheth
Dhruv Ravi
Leela Kapil
Natasha Bacarese-Hamilton
Kiran Kaanan
Kuldeep Goswani
Creatives
Director: Ameet Chana
Choreographer: Anna Maria Barber
Costume and Production Designer: Andy Kumar
Lighting Designer: Joe Price
Sound Designer: Dom Brennan
Musical Director: Hinal Pattani
RIFCO THEATRE &
WOLVERHAMPTON GRAND
THEATRE IN ASSOCIATION
WITH IMAGINE THEATRE AND WATFORD PALACE THEATRE
Information
Running Time: Two hours 15 minutes with an interval
Booking until 2nd November 2025
Theatre reviewed at:
Queen’s Theatre
Billet Lane
Hornchurch
RM11 1QT.
Box Office enquiries:
boxoffice@queens-theatre.co.uk
Rail : Emerson Park
Telephone: 01708 443333
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge at the
Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch on 30th September 2025