The Snow Queen

The First production of 2024 in District 11 for us this year was a Pantomime (Oh yes it was!) The Hans Christian Anderson Classic story of The Snow Queen, written by Colin Barrow.

For those not familiar with the story, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter, as this is Pantomime after all.

Basically- Snow Queen wants a boy of her own to make him Prince and, rather than go on Tinder, enlists the help of Snarly Really and Jack Frost in her search for one.

The Snow Queen was played by Nicky Diggle - this time donning the tights in the evil role - or is she just misunderstood? Who knows? But Nicky played it with perfect diction and gusto.

Snarly Really is a "Witch-type" character undertaken by Denise King - played mainly for laughs with her bobbing gait and use of stature against other characters. Whilst I liked the role, I did feel that Denise could have been a little more evil.

Russel Palmer as Jack Frost - his emphatic delivery was, as usual, en pointe.... though his black tights with otherwise white costume were a bit of a mystery - thinking he was going to reveal that he was someone else - and although he had a darker costume later on, I did feel the choice of black with the white in the first act were a bit strange.

Snarly turns Hanky from a good boy to a bad boy by sticking a splinter in his eye from a smashed mirror- "who is Hanky?" You may ask - he's the brother of Panky - and who, praytell is Panky?  Hanky and Panky are typical panto brother and sister - always trying to outdo each other get into scrapes etc, but all in good heart. That is until Hanky gets the splinter in his eye and is lured to the Land of Ice for the Snow Queen.

Hanky and Panky, played by Matt Berry and Angela Nevinson, bounced off each other really well and would normally have been classed as the "comedy duo" in any other panto.

This all happens interspersed with appearances for Hanky and Panky's mother, Dame Daisy Picking and Willie Wonthe (The not so handy handyman) and Black and Decker the comedy duo of this piece.

Dame Daisy Picking is the mother of Hanky and Panky and, as per, keeps the story flowing with exhuberent costumes and audience asides. Bob Needham played Dame Daisy in what was rumoured to be his last outing as Dame for Ulverston and did her proud once over the first night stumbles and mis-cued lighting (more of that later).

Adam Atkinson handled his Willie Wonthe with ease and had the kids with him all the way, although I do think that on occasion he could remember that the mic's are on throughout the dialogue and not just through the singing - although this can be said of a few of the principals on occasion.

Mark Johnson and Steve Thompson undertook the roles of Black and Decker - two detectives who couldn't detect. They  worked well with each other - Mark's loud and brash style being the antithesis of Steve's understated, softly spoken Decker.

Of course, you can't have a Fairy Tale without a Prince, a Principal Girl and, of course, a Fairy! Fairy Snowflake magics up the Prince (Prince Michael) to visit and save the day. He of course falls in love with the principal girl - in this case, Olga, who for some reason speaks a little like Yoda - not with a Grover type voice, but backwards - the (rather tenuous) reason for this is that she doesn't want to grow old.... hmmmm...

The chorus numbers in this show were colourful and loud - it was good to see everybody up there singing and dancing. The dance numbers were all well polished and drilled- although the costumes and style didn't seem to be specific to this story/show.

As per, staging was sumptuous cloths and flats, with set pieces being brought on for specific places. The opening night seemed to have a few mishaps with the sound and lighting - the most obvious being the on-stage working lights being on for the first twenty minutes of the show - which negated any of the lighting effects depicting good and evil but true to form with Ulverston Panto, goodies entered from stage right, baddies stage left - hurrah and boo in equal measure.

Under the cabable baton of Lizzie Greaves, the principals and chorus sang their hearts out and as per usual, the panto orchestra played well throughout. The orchestra always seem to have as much fun as the audience at these - testament to the fun the company have whilst performing.

Choreographer Alex Mattinson had the company working well in their dances and movement through their songs, though as previously mentioned I did feel the costumes for the dancers weren't in keeping with the production.

One of the hardest things with a large company is finding a script that gives everybody enough stage-time and catering for everyone becomes difficult - this in itself dilutes the characters and their interactions/relationships with the audiences and each other. Director Sue Little had obviously worked hard with this production, eeking out as much as possible from the pantomime, and the results were shown in the audience's appreciation at the end of the evening.

Thank you, Ulverston, for your hospitality and invite

 

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