Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Information
- Date
- 14th December 2023
- Society
- In Your Face Theatre (Seaham)
- Venue
- Seaham Town Hall
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Director
- Charlie Younger
- Choreographer
- Steph Peacock & Rebecca Moore
- Written By
- Reece Sibbald
Panto season continues with a trip just down the road to In Your Face Theatre Seaham for their annual pantomime, this year “Snow White and The Seven Dwarves” back in their “home” of Seaham Town Hall. Never an easy venue to produce anything in with low ceilings, a stage that has to be built and rebuilt again, poor lighting angles and difficulty gaining access pre show.
However the team at IYFTS pulled it out of the bag once again. A great set up, comfortable, air con was on and a full house of local people in the festive spirit. They’re a really good inclusive team at IYFTS, all are welcome audience and cast alike.
The cast, I mean wow. Some regulars, some returning to the stage and some new faces. Director Charlie Younger made sure all were having the time of their lives that was clear, and the costuming she presided over was excellent. The script was very funny and well put together by Reece Sibbald. Never seen any of his work before but definitely worth checking out. Well-constructed, well timed, balanced and importantly utterly hilarious.
It was wonderful to see David Jackson returning to the stage again as Queen Heatherina, what a miss he has been. Sterling job David, I personally have missed seeing you perform very much, especially as the Dame! The mime section with Cheeky Charlie was brilliant! Emma Conroy made a beautiful Snow Wite and newcomer Richard Corner a dashing Prince Jasper. Peter Baker was always made a superb Cheeky Charlie, entertaining the audience, bringing the high energy humour, and keeping the pace of the show. He’s really at home in this type of role. Audiences absolutely loved him. Paul Pearson was the Magic Mirror, declaring that Queen Heatherina was not “the fairest of them all” much to her disgust, and oh my days Nathan Johnson simply continues to go from strength to strength. Is there anything this kid cannot do? He played a saucy camp hilarious King Cuthbert brilliantly at a maturity far beyond his years. He played for me a cross between Hamilton’s King George and Hugh Laurie’s version from Blackadder, the “dim-witted upper-class twit” who had the audience in the palm of his hand. The comedy between him and Queen Heatherina was excellent, playing off each other to get the best for the audience. Absolutely brilliant all of you!
The tongue twister between Prince Jasper, Snow White and Cheeky Charlie was very impressive, how you all kept that one up was beyond me.
I did love the audience interaction, including the “Big Ball Challenge” which was a hoot!
Orie-Coulton-Goodwin led the dwarves played by Rue Riley, Kathryn Mitchell, Sofia Gibson, Connie Martin, Charlotte Davison and Charley Foley who were utterly fab, marching on and off to the Muppets theme (which took me ages and Charlie to remind me what the song was!) and their comedic timing again was brilliant. Timing really does make all the difference especially with comedy. Song choices throughout were very well thought out and appropriate.
Choreography by Steph Peacock and Rebecca Moore was very well done and well-rehearsed, giving some effective ensemble numbers executed by dancers Amelia Barton, Summer Martin, Rebecca Moore, Lexi Neasham, Abigale Slade and Evie Thompson. Very well done all of you.
Often overlooked in these reports I find are the silent volunteers in sound and light who work hard and pack up and go home afterwards without recognition. Paul Oliver of POSS Productions and Duncan Baxter of East Durham Audio really did a sterling job here. Sound cues were timed perfectly, were hilariously appropriate, sound levels spot on and all added to the humour. Paul created a magic mirror illusion in a very difficult venue, effective lighting with a brilliant “strip” which created the magic of panto. Really well-done guys, notably excellent.
Also supporting was a lovely ensemble of Summer Douthwaite, Lydia Franklin, Sarah Hamblett, Joel Oakley, Jonathan Ryan, Romy Wilkinson and Hollie Wilson. Shaun Crosby, the ultimate voice over artist himself, provided the voice of the narrator.
I thoroughly enjoyed my evening, lovely to see all of you and I can’t wait to see what IYFTS do in 2024. There seems to be no limit to their achievements.
All in all – a blooming marvellous production again from IYFTS.
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