Snow White

A change of setting for Eastwood Entertainers this panto season, but the club managed to maximise the challenging space extremely well and present an excellent panto for their audiences.  The script written by Director Roy McGregor was full of comedy, traditional panto business and a lovely take on the traditional story of Snow White.  It was great to see a good mix of newer musical numbers which allowed MD Andrew and Choreographer Aly a chance to show their skills off between modern songs, ballads, and a little touch of a musical.  The opening number “Treat People with Kindness” gave the show a punchy start with some Harry Styles … I mean who couldn’t enjoy some Harry Styles in a Panto!  The principal cast and ensemble were all strong in their roles.  The ensemble in particular should be commended as they might have been small in number, but filled the stage with good presence and handled each number and scene well.  I did enjoy the Jean cameo being a little bigger this year in her cleaner role … if you know you know!!  Taking on the title role of Snow White was Holly Killin, who balanced a softness with bravery in her sweet princess character.  Her solo song in Act 2, “Love is a Compass” was just beautiful.  It isn’t all happiness for Snow White and bringing the dark cloud over to rain on her parade was Jen McNair’s Queen Grimelda.  Jen used her comic timing and powerful presence to give a nasty baddie the audience loved to boo, but also laugh at.  Jen’s song “No Time to Die” was outstanding and filled the Clarkston Halls impressively.  Her comedy was amplified even more in the scenes with Maurice the Mirror, played by Raymond Caffrey and Hamish the Huntsman, played by Murray Constable.  The banter between Jen and Raymond was great and full of energy, while the contrast of her losing her mind with a very silly Hamish was funny to watch.  Raymond’s character transition when we discovered his background as a hairdresser before being trapped in the mirror was a highlight and had the audience in stitches.  Murray’s picnic gag left me with tears running down my face, very well done.  Keeping up the energy and humour throughout the show was Jennifer McKay as Muddles.  She did exactly what is loved in this character; engaged the audience, cracked a constant stream of jokes and had an energetic physicality.  Bringing some royalty and more banter to the show was Caitlin McGrory as Prince William and Dawn Carlos as Dandini.  The relationship between these two was lovely, and they merged the traditional panto principal boy characters with some modern touches to make the characters more endearing.  Keeping the story going was Aimee Mejury as a gorgeous Fairy Diamond, and extra credit to Aimee who only stepped into the role very close to curtain up, but that didn’t tell in her confident performance.  The Seven Miners who help rescue Snow White were a great team; Laura Minto (Gaffer), Cheryl Easton (Crabbit), Iain Denham (Joker), Helen Waugh (Snotrag), Carol Burns (Kipper), Sam Allam (Beamer and Lindsay Frame (Glakit).  All worked well together and brought their individual characters to life with good physicality and accents.  Now what is a panto without a Dame?!  Stuart McKay brought us a bold, hilarious, and sassy Dame Dolly Dumpling to keep the cast and audience on their toes.  He gave an excellent comedic performance and in particular his chat with the audience was superb and got them involved in the story … especially the man friend he found on Sunday night who was nearly away home with more than the programme!  I would also like to mention the costumes which were very colourful, they certainly lit well and filled the smaller stage with vibrance.  A fab panto for Eastwood, and again congratulations to the club for handling the change in venue very well.

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