Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The story is well known… but just in case: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tells of a beautiful princess, Snow White, whose jealous stepmother, the Evil Queen, orders her killed due to her unmatched beauty. Snow White escapes, finds refuge with seven dwarfs in the forest, and lives with them, but the Queen, discovering Snow White is alive via her magic mirror, disguises herself and tricks Snow White into eating a poisoned apple, putting her in a death-like sleep. She's eventually awakened by a prince's kiss, and they marry, defeating the Queen and living happily ever after, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil.

ODS were clever in choosing a very funny script by Alan P Frayn with jokes a plenty, mostly corny of course, but  the cast revelled in them and the audience too. I must highlight straight away that the audience were met with a front stage beautifully dressed with a woodland scene, which was extended to an on-stage scene later. The dwarf’s cottage was also very good.

In this traditional panto the Fairy is first to appear, and Tina Cresswell as Fairy Fortune was just right; beautifully dressed and capturing the style with a great smile. Not far behind of course was the wicked Queen Avarice (Snow White’s step mother) played superbly by Kathy Mortimer. Kathy engaged immediately with the audience and became an important and central figure throughout the production. She regularly asks the magic mirror ‘who is the fairest one of all’ and the entrance and exit of the mirror was well handled and fronted just right by Merlin played well by David Vas. All is well of course until Snow White arrives and Lily Cole created an endearing role, looking every bit a princess with a sweet voice to match.

‘Dame’ Edna Bucket arrived on stage to ‘I feel like a woman’ and Nigel Payne with some crazy costumes gave it the right treatment, engaging with the audience and maintaining a good presence. In and out of most scenes, Alex Fitzgerald gave his usual endearing performance, as Chuckles, and chuckle we did as the corny jokes flowed. The local magistrate Justice Quill and her idiotic scribe Scribbles arrive and both Ruth Hammond and particularly Simon Billington spoke up well, keeping the action moving.

When Prince Ferdinand arrives (Dawn Turner) he is instantly taken with Snow White and wishes to marry her instead of the hopeful Queen. Dawn had good presence and sang ‘Can’t help falling in love’ well. When the Queen is told that Snow White has become the fairest of them all, she engages Slurp (Tom Oliver) as her henchman, to get rid of Snow White. Slurp provides good support as he is put under a spell to carry out her evil deed. Fortunately, Snow White meets the seven dwarfs who were banished from the castle and these are played to good effect by the youngsters from The Kirsty Purvis Dance School. (Eve Oakley, Eliza Morris, Lilia O’Toole, Olivia-May Hawkes, Chloe Watts, Molly Jones and Kate Woodford)

The Fairy puts a spell on Slurp who cannot then kill Snow White and so presents the evil Queen with a lamb’s heart instead, but The Queen eventually finds out Snow White is still alive and approaches her at the cottage in disguise, with a poisoned apple. We did try to tell her not to eat it!

A small chorus provided support throughout and were backed by a mixture of recorded music and an electric piano and drums, which never overwhelmed the cast, which was good. Directors Chris Marsh and Becky Weir and the production team should be pleased with the audience reactions and I would like to thank ODS members for their usual warm welcome. It was pleasing to see the charitable donations that were being made by the Society and I look forward to ‘The House Amongst the Willows’ in May.

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