Growled at The RVT review: ‘It left us howling for more’ says James Barr
It’s a raucous and silly panto with all the trimmings but it’s also fresh and funny as hell. The audience were screaming for more
By James Barr
This summer, theatre Twitter entered into civil war when audiences discovered that the most famous moment in Evita ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ was being live streamed into the theatre as Rachel Zegler performed on a West End balcony to non-ticket buying passers-by in the street. Some called it revolutionary. Others called it a very expensive betrayal.
Personally, I couldn’t afford to see Jamie Lloyd’s Evita at all so, yes, I also watched it from the pavement. Which is why I wasn’t expecting my next brush with radical musical theatre staging to happen a few months later… at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern’s pantomime. And yet, there I was, watching Belle (Lucy Penrose) abandon the stage mid-number to head upstairs and belt out a song from a window to the unsuspecting bears of Vauxhall below. Proof, if ever it were needed, that the RVT will always find a way to outdo the West End, with considerably cheaper tickets and indeed, REAL Bears. (Sorry, Paddington.)
Among the standout performances, Ada Campe’s Inventorer is a masterclass in chaos
Vocally, Growled is sensational from the start, the singing is genuinely excellent. Big group numbers and solo performances soar with confidence, while pop anthems from Katy Perry, the Spice Girls and Lady Gaga make this a panto for poppers o’clock.
Among the standout performances, Ada Campe’s Inventorer is a masterclass in chaos. Ada’s physicality choices are immediately hilarious, with absolutely perfect comic timing. Lucy Penrose is brilliant as Belle and Matthew Ferry’s Prince balances a confident performance of toxic masculinity with just enough vulnerability to send some of the gays in the audience into a tizz. Perhaps they need therapy, but I’ll save that for the group chat.
However, Beauty & The Beast, this is not. Growled starts after, ‘Happily Ever After’. The Beast is back to being a Prince. The spell is broken, and Belle realises that she’s confused ‘being tied up’ and slapped by a Beast with ‘love and affection…’ a very relatable problem for me and countless other gay men in the audience.
It’s a raucous and silly panto with all the trimmings but it’s also fresh and funny as hell
The jokes are huge. There are sharp digs at the Royal Family, Rylan and Amanda Holden and a reminder of The RVT’s historic importance in gay London: “There hasn’t been a top in here since Princess Diana.”
It’s a raucous and silly panto with all the trimmings but it’s also fresh and funny as hell. The audience were screaming for more.
Growled runs at the RVT until the first week of January 2026. Tickets are available on the RVT website.
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