Photos: In Rehearsal for JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: WHAT A WHOPPER! At Charing Cross Theatre

He’s Behind You! return to Charing Cross Theatre with Jack and the Beanstalk: What A Whopper! Check out photos from rehearsal!

Jack Trott is poor, gay and very horny, living with his mum on a dilapidated dairy farm 10 miles from the nearest Grindr user in the quaint Yorkshire Village of Upper Bottom. Join him on his hilarious quest to find something truly giant...

With outrageous songs, fabulous designs, glittering choreography and more innuendos than you can swallow, Jack and the Beanstalk, by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, promises to be London’s wildest pantomime, and an unforgettably queer night out. Expect all the fun of traditional panto - just not for all the family!

Queen of adult panto Matthew Baldwin (“one of the classiest Dames in the business, Baldwin is the real deal” - Alun Hood) returns to don the demurest of wellies as Dame Dolly Trott, a disgraced former soap star-turned-dairy-farmer.

Baldwin says “Dolly is a wild narcissist who speaks as she finds, which is a northern  euphemism for being f***ing rude, and she won’t take nonsense from either side of the fourth wall,  so don’t be cheeky. But she has a heart of gold and deserves love – as we all do. Making people laugh is the best job in the world and I cannot wait to get back on stage at Charing Cross Theatre.”

Cast: Matthew Baldwin, Laura Anna-Mead, Laura Buhagiar, Joe Grundy, Caitlin Swanton.Fin Walton, Chris Lane, Jordan Stamatiadis,Dame Dora Herd.

Jack and the Beanstalk: What A Whopper! is written by Jon Bradfeld and Martin Hooper with songs by Bradfield, and directed by Andrew Beckett. Sets are by David Shields, who won Best Set Design at this year’s national Panto Awards for his spectacular Snow White at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, and whose recent work includes Heathers (West End, The Other Palace and tour), Rose (Hope Mill, Park  Theatre and West End) and The Fabulist and Pippin (Charing Cross).

Baldwin, Beckett, Bradfield, Hooper and Shields were behind the string of acclaimed gay pantomimes at the now-closed Above The Stag Theatre. Bradfield says, “Working with this lovely, funny family of collaborators is the privilege of my life, as is knowing that our shows have become an unmissable annual festive tradition for many people. We started working together in the smallest of theatres and last year it was a thrill to discover there’s a bigger audience out there for our brand of big-hearted, sophisticated smut.”