Snow White

There are several things you are always guaranteed when watching a CUDOS show, you always know that the show will be very well supported; you are guaranteed a warm welcome and hospitality and you always know that CUDOS will make the most of every inch of stage, and have just as much scenery and set at the sides of the stage, as there is on it.  It was nice to see that CUDOS’ pantomime Snow White, kept very much to form.

It was nice to see that this version of Snow White was written by Ann Brolly, a member of the society.  Being a Noda rep means that you often see several pantomimes during the panto season, and it is always nice to see a home-made script.  Ann had obviously done her homework too, as this script definitely ticked every panto cliché although, it did seem that sometimes they were a little shoe-horned in to meet requirements, the slapstick cream scene was a good example of this.  But what an interesting idea to replace the Dwarfs with The Ologists, and a great deal of humour was milked out of this change, it was also a nice unusual touch to spend the first half of the story seeing Snow White grow from baby to young lady.

What a blessing to see a pantomime that tried some different songs, instead of recycling the same ones over and over again (last year 4 panto’s – all had the same song!).  I have to say there were several songs here I hadn’t heard of before and although it was nice to have some different songs having a better balance of both new and old songs may have benefitted the younger members of the audience.  Although, it is always lovely to have a live band and Lucy Singleton managed to create such a full sound from only five band members. 

The humour in the script was ok but unfortunately, the night I came, some of the jokes did fall a little flat.  However, how great was it to see the mushroom joke having a brief resurrection – you really can’t beat the Carry On Films.

The set, designed by Ann & Dave Brolly and created by the CUDOS crew, was simple but effective and did its job well, whilst also allowing for quick and swift scene changes.  A particular favourite was Wanda’s Room and the amazing mirror on the wall, a lovely looking piece that worked in a very clever way using lights and black clothing.

The sound by Dave Brolly was great, this is the second show in a row where the sound quality has been spot on and it is fantastic to see that CUDOS seems to have kicked that little gremlin out of their shows.  On saying that, however, it was difficult to hear all of The Ologists, when they were talking, this seemed to be due to them not having head-mic’s rather than issues with the sound quality.  A real shame really as what we heard from them was very good and could have easily been solved by showing them how to project and maybe slow down their speech a little.  The lighting, designed by Karl Taylor and operated by Mike Best, Josh Chant and Jackie Dyer was very good and really helped elevate the basic sets into something quite special, the lighting in the neon scene was particularly effective.

Helen Wickens, Lorraine Dash and Jackie Dyer did a great job with costumes and all the characters looked the part.  The opening scene was a prime example with everybody having unique costumes but in the same colours, giving a very smart and co-ordinated look.  With quite a large number in the cast and a considerable number of costume changes the costume team must have been very busy and all of them fitted well and suited the play. A particular triumph was Queen Wanda’s costume which was amazing and really stood out on the night.

Choreography was handled by Lisa Gage.  Lisa is proving to be a Jack of All Trades for CUDOS, after acting for the first time in Scoundrels and now choreographing for the first time in Snow White, one can only wonder what she will do next?  Lisa’s choreography worked well with the songs and it was good to see some variety in the dances, clearly some thought had been put into this.  The chorus members performing the dances, seemed like they were enjoying themselves and, as usual, Neus Luna and Katy Lyons really caught the eye in every dance number they were in.  They were elegant in their movements and both had a huge smile on their face throughout.

The main cast was led by Ray Norris as Nurse Nora with a very strange catchphrase that didn’t really seem to match the story.  Nurse Nora was aided and hindered in equal measure by Mutt and Jeff, played by William Scott-Robinson and Diana Hodgson, they all put in a solid performance however for whatever reasons did not seem to sparkle quite as brightly as they have in previous performances.  The slapstick decorating scene had hints of greatness but seemed to fizzle out far too quickly, although clearly a lot of work had been done during rehearsals to perfect the timing of the plank section.  Sarah Elliott worked hard to make Queen Wanda a nasty baddie and did very well at evoking a reaction from the crowd.  Sian Flint made a likeable Snow White and had a lovely singing voice, as was evidenced with the song “Over the Rainbow”.  Rounding off the main cast was Milly Pattemore, Lottie Dixon, Christian Barry, Jessica Cummins and Hatty Souttar-Stone as the younger Ologists, ably assisted by the more experienced Leonie Dash and George Flint.  The younger members here did a fantastic job of holding their own against the more adult members of the cast and shows that CUDOS has a healthy stock of actors waiting in the wings.  All the Ologists worked well together and they all characterised their particular “ology” well, their song “Suepamcallamfranjillizzierupertaloysius” was definitely one of the show’s highlights, although it was a little hard to hear all the words due to the lack of head-mics.  All the cast seemed to work together well and you could really feel the teamwork pouring off the stage. 

In any production there are always those performers that really stand out, and this production was no different, hats off then to Robert Judge who really made a lot of his minor part as King Wilfred the Wistful with some pretty funny looks and some nifty footwork at the side of the stage.  However, the top performers on the night had to be Danny Brand who was incredibly funny as The Magic Mirror, especially during “Simply the Best”, Kerry Peters who was fantastic as Hilda, isn’t she always, and completely embodied this character – yet another 5 star Kerry performance and the always reliable George Flint, who put in another stunning performance as the campest of campanologists, Rupert Aloysius.  George was just so much fun to watch in every scene, thank goodness the PC police weren’t in.  Sian must have been so proud!

Once all the fun is over, we always have the obligatory community song.  I liked the use of “Singing in the Rain” and thought adding the different moves was a fun way to get the audience involved, although the song did seem to go on a little too long and I did see a few members of the audience start to sit down before it had finished.  As usual, you finished the pantomime with your annual rendition of “Be Back Soon”.  I can’t tell you how much of a fan I am of this song and your version of it, it’s such a nice idea and a rewarding familiar touch for your regular audience.

Although this did not quite reach its full potential, this was another decent performance from CUDOS.  Congratulations to Ann for writing your own pantomime, which had some lovely story elements within it and well done to those cast members who really stepped up to the plate and made the most of their characters. 

As you know I was accompanied by Jack Price, South West Youth Adviser, please find his comments below.

YOUTH REPORT

Thank you again for the usual warm welcome.  After last year’s production of Rapunzel, I was glad to see that even though you have done more adult based shows in the last year, you did not lose the younger members of your society.  I would love to see you fully capitalise on your youth section and I think it would be great to see CUDOS do a musical in 2019 that includes all ages, just putting the name “Oliver" out there, as we all know you already know the words to one of the numbers.

The opening scene seemed to lack a little energy and pace, which was a shame as I felt it just needed an upbeat and fun number to get the audience going.  As I said it was nice to see a young strong chorus, however I have to say I was not a fan of changing Dwarfs to Ologists.  Having said that, however, the energy and banter between all seven of the Ologists was great and they all worked well together, although of course it was George Flint who definitely won the audience over with his characterisation, the trouble is I still can’t help but picture him as Frank Pickle.  Congratulations to Milly Pattemore, Lottie Dixon, Christian Barry, Jessica Cummins, Hatty Souttar-Stone and Leonie Dash, as they also put in some great characterisations.  I think it is safe to say that the future of CUDOS is bright with such a young and strong talent on their stage.

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