Snow White

I always look forward to SHADES Pantomime production in December, for me, it is part of my personal Christmas season starting.There is always a very warm welcome from the Front of House Team and it is lovely to experience the children in the audience reactions - their excited, loud and delightfully over the top “booing “ at the baddie. 
SHADES production of Snow White started with the audience entering the auditorium to closed velvet curtains with a chair, a very large free standing mirror and a dressing table to one side of the stage (baddie’s side). The scenery throughout was printed vinyl backdrops pinned to non moveable walls which in this production looked very effective and made good use of the space. All props by Frankie Holt were handled well by the cast and looked correct and in keeping. The costumes by Carol Griffiths, Joan Wood and Carole Gordon were very much in keeping , the chorus members all looked lovely in bright colours, the dwarves stood out well in their dotty sleeves. I especially enjoyed the blended colour finale - it gave the production a nice feeling of all coming together at the end. 
Choreography by Rebecca Henry was kept nice and simple and was executed well. 
All the music used in the production was track music , there were no glitches or drops in sound. At this point I would add a cautionary note about being very aware of copyright infringement when putting numbers and costumes together - it can easily be overlooked.
Tegan Cooper took on the titular role and it was unfortunate that the performance I saw Tegan had a very sore throat , she did her best to sing her numbers and deliver her dialogue but it was audibly obvious that she was not at her best , she did however deliver a lovely performance aided by her Prince played by Amy Copas. Amy is no stranger to the stage ,she managed to sing some of the missing notes for Tegan as well as delivering a full and physical performance herself, Amy always uses her facial expressions so well to enhance her dialogue. 
Jane Pearson played the evil Queen Morgana with great relish, she was every inch the cold, ruthless and conniving baddie. She bossed the downtrodden Ramsbottom ( Carole Griffiths) with glee and shouted every insult she could at them. Nurse Nelly ( Mike Waldron) and Muddles ( Simon Thompson) were a superb comedy duo , they worked the audience well both as a pair or as singular characters. They used their stage space well , had some good diction and projection. The Dwarves were kept under control by Noah Ogden ( Prof) , at times he had a very unenviable job. Fairy 1 and Fairy 2 played by Evie Veevers and Lilia Rose Gilmore had some great dialogue that really bounced off each other well, they kept the story moving along at a good pace and interacted with the audience well. 
The chorus in a Pantomime are always very hardworking, they fill scenes and provide interim musical numbers - this chorus were exceptionally hardworking working, they had some great energy and some lovely big smiles . 
Thank you for inviting me to your production of Snow White, I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

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