Snow White
8th December 2012
It’s hard to believe a year has passed by and we are into
Panto season again, but indeed, 2012 is almost behind us (oh yes it is!) and
the villains and heroes are preparing to do battle once more.
This year we are off to Cannyville, home of Snow White and Chuckles
(her best friend in the whole wide world) Lilith her wicked stepmother
and, of course, the Seven Dwarves. There were actually quite a few more than
seven – I counted 28 on stage at once point!
Cannyville naturally has fallen on hard times and Lilith (Moira
Valentine) is looking to marry the handsome Prince Rufus (Aiofe Kennan) from
the neighbouring land, the wealthy Kingdom of Darras Hall no less! But her beautiful step daughter stands in her
way – the prince will never fall for the queen – no matter how glamorous –
while the sweet and beautiful Snow White (Emma Jane Richards) is around! And so
a dastardly plot is hatched…you know how it goes, evil tries its damnedest but
good wins out in the end!
As always the People’s Theatre has produced a very professional
and slick show! The scenery is simple – a dungeon, a forest glade or two, and
the dwarves’ cottage. Atmosphere is provided when needed by clever lighting –
keep an eye on the sky – some dry ice, and spooky music from the orchestra! It’s
all deceptively simple and means that the audience’s attention is focused on
the actors – and they keep that attention with jokes (some suitably terrible
ones!) and quips, songs and dancing and plenty of audience participation. Chuckles,
played by Stuart Douglas keeps everyone laughing, encouraging the audience to
join in at every opportunity. He is helped in this by his stage mother, Nurse Kitty
– played beautifully (and I use the word advisedly!) by Kevin Gibson, in an
array of preposterous outfits as befits the panto dame! I loved his plaintiff
cry “three appearances in and still in the same frock”! Hard times indeed in
Cannyville!
The perfect foil to these two are the baddies of the show
Lilith the glamorous but evil queen and
her incompetent henchman Sidney Snarl. Sidney (Peter Harrison) snarls and
snivells his way through the script. With their equally exaggerated accents he
and Lilith draw boos and hisses from the audience.
Highlights of the show – and there were many – have to be
the Irish dancing by Clann na nGael, which was awe-inspiring, and the Abba
routine “If you change your mind” with Kitty and Sidney , which was equally awe-inspiring but
in a completely different way. So funny!
I think the sign of a good panto is the level of audience
participation – there is nothing so funny as the ghost scene with a theatre
full of kids and quite a few mams, dads and grannies, screaming “He’s behind
you!” And scream they did at this one. I swear they could be heard over in
Darras Hall!
Brilliantly produced, well performed. If you are looking to
see a panto this year then I would recommend this one. You’ll be made welcome
by the front of house staff and your sides will ache with laughter by the end
of it – what more could you want?
Snow White runs until the 16th December - oh yes it does!
Denise Sparrowhawk
Snow White runs until the 16th December - oh yes it does!
Denise Sparrowhawk
Agree with every word - we were there on Sunday afternoon and it was brilliant!
ReplyDeleteOh and I can't believe I forgot to mention the slo-mo kung-fu scene...LOL! And how cute were all those little dwarves? Too many good bits to mention!
ReplyDelete