03 December 2024

Snow White

 

Review by Paul Towers, 29/11//24

Snow White by Morgan Brind

Directed by Morgan Brind

Produced by Little Wolf Entertainment

At Loughborough Town Hall until Sunday 5th January 2025

This years offering at Loughborough Town Hall is another Little Wolf triumph. Their Snow White is the most traditional of pantomimes with goodies and baddies enough to boo, hiss and cheer right from the start.

The tone of the show is set right from the beginning when Queen Nocturna (Cara Dudgeon) spits her venom on the audience and pulls off a fabulous stooge gag. Snow White (Emma Robertson) is saccharine goodness personified as she is banished from court by the wicked queen who covets her inheritance. It is only through the squeamishness of vegan Hamish The Huntsman (Stuart Turner) that she escapes having her heart ripped out (a nice bit of horror for the kiddies!).

Alone in the woods she stumbles upon the house of seven banished diamond miners (cue predictable gags about Maggie shutting the mines). Normally the dwarves would be played by children or even, budget permitting, actual dwarves. But in this case they are cleverly played by puppets. These are so innovative as have to be seen to be believed. There are also some traditional woodland animals played by the junior team members.

Of course every panto has to have a Dame and Snow White has a master (mistress?) of the art in Matthew Siveter’s Dame Cilla Bang (geddit?) who is ably assisted by Keanu Leaves (Elliot Coombe) as the Buttons-esque junior idiot.

For some romantic interest for Snow White there is Prince Rupert  (Ben Williamson-Jones), thick as mince and far too nice for his own good.

So there we have the headline characters and all the elements of a traditional pantomime are ready and waiting. These elements then have to have a good script to hang them on and Morgan Brind’s is a cracker. Whip sharp and right up to date without losing any of the story. There is slapstick, messy routines and great prop routines. Everything you could ask for. Both adults and children in the audience were howling with laughter. Which is as it should be.

Snow White runs at Loughborough Town Hall until 5th January 2025

https://www.loughboroughtownhall.co.uk/

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