The Snow Queen

What an absolute pleasure to be back at the Frazer Theatre for Knaresborough Players first pantomime in three years. It’s been a difficult few years for everybody in amateur theatre so it was good to see the Players back with a bang.

On a very cold January evening, what could be more appropriate than The Snow Queen? This is not one of the usual pantomime stories and I’m not sure why – because of the large number of characters it lends itself perfectly to amdram, where just about everybody gets a part. 

Taken from the Hans Andersen fairytale, the show began with Hans himself, complete with an ever-growing hat, writing the story in old Copenhagen and opening onto a street scene, featuring some of the best known songs from the Hans Christian Anderson musical. We had pretty Gerda (Marie Chapman), her cousin, Helmut (Imogen Sinclair) and Gerda's boyfriend, Kai (Austin Heslop) all living in a poor cottage with Grandma, known as 'Granny Fanny Annie' - all these characters were played with gusto and verve. The comedy partnership between Granny and Helmut had the audience in stitches throughout the show.

All was going well until the Snow Queen decided to spirit poor Kai away to the frozen north and her ice palace. We had a glamorously wicked Queen, played by Emma Knill,  dressed in a shimmering white dress, she commanded the stage throughout, and she needed to, given a very boisterous group of scouts in the audience. One thing – global warming! She was ably supported by her henchman, Henrick (Ian Hagues), who also doubled as Ziggy, and her minion Trolls (Maria and Sophie Knill)

To every pantomime villain, there has to be a good fairy – in this case Snowdrop, delightfully portrayed by Scarlett Jean Keys. She dealt really well with the rhyming dialogue expected of a pantomime fairy. And she looked exactly as the children in the audience expected of a fairy – charming.

On the journey to rescue Kai, we encounter a motley collection of characters as we travel through the seasons. This gave a wonderful opportunity for everybody to “do their bit” and they all did it exceptionally well – Sunbeam (Brenda Anderson), Blossom (Lisa Ramsey), Fredericka (Doreen Driffield) and Caw (Rachel Smart). I need to make a special mention to a couple of show-stealing characters – Precious (Jocelyn Cook) as the camp dancing sunflower and Rufus the Reindeer (Jessica Ramsey) – she’s on her way. (You had to be there )

The final members of the company were Holly Shaw and Colin Beveridge.

I also need to mention to young team of dancers from Studio 3 – what an absolute delight they were in all their routines. We saw the Blue team (Penny Smithson, Beau McLelland-Cummings, Daisy Glennon and Faye Jackson) on Friday night but I’m sure the Red team were equally as delightful.

Of course, the efforts of the cast would come to nothing without a strong backstage team of people. So hats off (and growing ones at that!) to your Stage Manager (Geraldine Gordon), for delivering a smooth running show, and her team who worked backstage and built the set, Margaret Wild, Daniel Brown,Imogen Sinclair and Rob Pearce, Costumes (Brenda Anderson and the cast), Choreography (Viv Hall) and Lighting and Sound(Sian Pearce). Full credit to Sian for some excellent use of lighting and projection – I loved the “melting” effect on the Snow Queen’s dress.

Last and certainly not least, many congratulations to the Director, John Pearce, for delivering a first class evening’s entertainment. In his programme notes, John states one of his personal beliefs – “for a show to be fun to watch, it first has to be fun to produce”. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment and judging by the fun the audience had, you must have had a lot of fun producing it. 

Congratulations to you all and welcome back.

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.