Snow White

Lowestoft Players presented the Pantomime Snow White at the Marina Theatre on a chilly Sunday afternoon. The story was portrayed in the normal panto style with Snow White being the fairest of them all and the Evil Queen doing everything she could to destroy the princess because she was jealous of her beauty. True love as ever prevailed in the end.

Snow White (Harmony Jenkerson) was characteristic in her approach to the role even down to her attention to detail in her arm movements. A lovely singing voice, very sweet. Prince Gary (Jack Bloomfield) established the vain personality with an accent and great stage presence, and his sidekick Fitz (Lauren Wilson) acted well with clear diction. Dame Lizzie Crust (Nicholas Garrod) had a great rapport with the audience, always involving them in the fun and was warm and friendly at all times, she also had that connection and good comedy timing with Justin Time (Lee Nevill) who used the stage area superbly and was bubbly and energetic. A very good twosome. The traditional goodie and baddie, Fairy Tales (Judi Mars) and Queen Weronica Wyrd (Paula Crisp) I really enjoyed both their performances especially their song ‘Loathing’ very well done. Both were suited to their roles and did them with flair and style. Herbert (Matthew Wade) was perfect in his characterisation of the weird henchman. The Minors were excellent, very cheeky with their Suffolk accents, a delight to watch. The chorus came onto the stage, smiled and looked like they were having fun. They truly added, with their enthusiasm, the right atmosphere.

The production team Lauren Nevill and Jonathan Gibbs presented a different approach to a classic pantomime and Natasha Bird the choreographer developed modern moves in an effective way to suit the storyline.

The scenery was appropriate for each scene, the props and furniture were cleverly used, particularly the Dames car and the lighting worked well. The costumes were bright, colourful and looked good all the way through the show.

I loved the idea of the 3 ages of Snow White at the beginning to introduce the story and the digital talking mirror showed a modern take on this.

Some favourite scenes of mine included the kitchen scene with the Dame and Justin, they made this scene look so easy but very funny. Snow White and the minors song was lovely to watch and If I were not in Pantomime an essential song in any panto.

When putting together a show, it is necessary to use the whole stage and different levels. Maybe a thought for the future. The music sometimes was a little loud for the singers depending on where the audience were sitting. On a personal note, I prefer cheesy humour in panto.

Thank you, Lowestoft Players, for inviting me to your pantomime It was a very entertaining afternoon with an audience who loved every minute.

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