Snow Whte

SNOW WHITE by Alex Jackson is set in the frozen kingdom of Meinfahrt.   Queen Malevolent rules with a frosty grip and a weather spell that’s locked the land in eternal winter.   When her Magic Mirror reveals that Snow White is the fairest of them all, the Queen sends her hapless huntsman Heinrich and the Royal Wolf Pack to eliminate her.   There’s  more to it, of course, chaos, a bit of slapstick and a few surprises. 

The sets were brilliant and ranged from castle courtyard, the forest and the cottage of the seven dwards.    There were bright and colourful with the doghouse suitably grim.   Props were excellent and numerous and included a clothes airer, a vacuum cleaner and an assortment of cleaning materials.   The giant caludron deserves a special mention.

The costumes were very good and in keeping with their characters.   The Dame, Heather Duster, wore a variety of outfits bursting with colour with contrasting, or matching, wigs.   Queen Malevolent was suitably menacing in her black and Tanya Cleverly in skin tight silver all in one suit perfectly emodied the Magic Mirror.    There was good attention to detail with each dwarf garbed to suit their personalities (and names) and it made a nice change to see Snow White NOT wearing the traditional blue, white, red and yellow dress normally seen.   

This version is a witty twist on the traditional Snow White story but contains all the vital ingredients for a successful panto.    At the performance I saw, Mike Stokoe was in fine form as the eccentric dame, Heather Duster and with Amelia Hicks as Muddles, his son, it was a winning combination, especially during the cleaning themed comedy sketch.  Louise Levy was in her element as the vain and wicked Queen Malevolent and Charley Henkey had natural charm and humour to her role as Prince William of Wessex.    She was delightfully paired with Ami Bennett as the heroine Snow White, determined to defend her kingdom from the wicked queen.    Salvatore De Francisci was hilarious as the henchman, Heinrich.   His attempt to creep stealthily and seize Snow White was hysterically funny.  There were many local references, and touches, such as the snowball fight, and a couple of upbeat ensemble songs including ‘Consider yourself’ and ‘In the mood’ that built together to make a massively enjoyable production.    And just when we thought the action was over, the Lob Stars (local tradition and completely outside of the story) appeared and the show ended on an exurberant and energetic note.  Well done to Director Keith Bennett and his creative team and backstage crew, on great production values  enabling those on the stage, to shine. 

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