Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs

This was my first visit to St Giles with Mary’s Pantomime Society and in my opinion, it is about as good as local community pantomime can get. The society chose a very witty script, littered throughout with corny but beloved one-liners by A P Frayn that the cast delivered expertly.

The show opened with Fairy Fortune (Katie Appleton) telling us, in verse, the history of Snow White prior to her 18th birthday. Katie was a sweet, believably magical fairy who coped extremely well with the rhyming verse she had to deliver. We were then taken to the Palace Courtyard and a lovely mash up of Come Follow the Band and You Can’t Stop the Beat which was danced and sung by Snow White, the Junior Dancers and The Chorus. The society is so blessed to have so many students to nurture and teach stagecraft to and from the youngest to the oldest on stage, it is clear that there are some stars of the future in the making.

As Chuckles, the village idiot Matthew Heslop-Rather did a sterling job at working the audience well and telling so many silly jokes, he was energetic and engaging. Vinny Empsall, was on form as, Edina Bouquet, Chuckles’ mum and the Palace Housekeeper, always interacting well with the audience and other characters. The comedy duo Justice Quill and Scribble  added an extra layer of comedy with Rob Weston giving a good performance as the sometimes-bemused Magistrate and legal advisor to Queen Avarice. His bumbling assistant was played by Amanda Lovell whose squeaky voice added to the comedy as she inevitably got all her instructions wrong. Rod Walker brought humour to the role of Slurp, the palace drains cleaner, and the Queen’s henchman but definitely showed a softer side when failing to carry out the evil queen’s orders. Also assisting the evil queen was Merlina of the Magic Mirror. Jo Sykes gave a very upper-class performance spending most of her time behind ’glass’ but eventually ‘breaking free from evil Avarice. As Snow White’s evil stepmum, Sam Whitford was graceful and had excellent facial expressions to indicate her emotions, especially in her song, In the Dark of the Night, which was superbly sung. This was her first time playing an evil character and at times, I would have liked her to have been even more evil and engage in some audience taunting to make them really hate her. I’m sure though that as she grows into these types of roles that she will be a force to be reckoned with. Of course, there are the romantic roles, Snow White and Prince Ferdinand and both these parts were played by young ladies who have honed their craft as part of the junior section here. It really is heart-warming to see them now in principal roles and shining on the stage. As the title role, Eloise Lovell realised a childhood dream, and what a wonderful kind, sweet and generous Snow White she was. Katy Chadwick in her first Principal Boy role delivered a character that showed strength, confidence and determination to get what he wanted. Katy has a fantastic singing voice and her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream as she walked through the audience was beautiful. Both of these young ladies will be playing principal roles for a long time, I am sure.

Of course, I can’t forget the seven dwarfs, and boy, were these ones amazing. I always like to see the actors on stage actually saying their lines, rather than them being pre recorded so it was a great to see it done this way. The dwarfs were renamed Bossy, Smiley, Grumbly, Dozy, Snoozy, Sniffles, and Blushful and were all played superbly. They worked together as a team, were confident, and clear, with excellent timing. It isn’t possible to mention all of them individually, but I must give praise to two exceptionally talented young boys, Seth Empsall and Zack Weston who delivered the jokes beautifully, and waited for the audience's laughter to die down before giving their next line, they showed maturity beyond their years and I wouldn’t be surprised if their careers lie in performing. Well Done boys.

The costumes were excellent, the wardrobe department had clearly worked hard to provide a set of costumes of a high standard that contributed to the overall effect on stage.

There was a good selection of well-chosen songs and dance music. The well-performed songs under the experienced musical direction of David Hookham were of a suitable length holding the attention of the children in the audience and performed confidently by all involved. I did sometimes struggle to hear the lyrics but that is more to do with venue and sound system than the loudness of the great four-piece band. I understand that after more than 20 years at the helm, David is hanging his baton up, I am sure you will leave a hole that will be hard to fill, but know that you have contributed to so many people’s enjoyment of live theatre over the years. Congratulations, and enjoy your rest.

The show was well choreographed by Dawn Cooper, Joanne Sykes, Jane Skelton, Amanda Lovell, Eloise Lovell and Mel Millard respectively. They all took a different section of the cast to work with and yet managed to seamlessly integrate all sections together.  

Jo Sykes as producer is clearly passionate about this society and this shines through in every aspect of the production. She made sure that all areas involved in the show had worked well together to bring about this Pantomime; that everyone was confident in their roles; that the stage was well used; and that the audience was well entertained and had a good evening. Well done to everyone involved in such a brilliant show. I loved it and can’t wait to return.

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