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Snow White Review
Director: Gary Sander
Choreographer: Viv Morris
Dates: November 2018
Reviewer: DeeDee Doke
Mirror, mirror on the wall – who’s the fairest of them all?
As we all know, the legendary answer to that question is “Snow White”. And we also know her evil queen stepmother is never going to buy in to that response. Nevertheless we never tire of the struggle between good and bad playing out in this tale, which remains an all-time favourite of
young and young in spirit -- especially during pantomime season when the combination of goodness, evil, a rosy-cheeked damsel in distress, a charming prince, an extravagantly bewigged dame, and seven small magical people is irresistible.
Hockwold Amateur Theatrical Society (HATS) opted for the more traditionally-themed panto Snow White this year after staging the often riotously funny, Wild West-set A Little Panto on the Prairie in 2018. However, while Snow White itself is traditional, a few twists in this version by Jack Northcott provide the storyline with new characters and scenarios to boo and cheer.
Directed by Gary Sander, who also takes on dame duties, Snow White takes place in the Germanic village of Meinfahrt where lies the castle of wicked Queen Malevolent, near the Frozen Forest and a diamond mine. Not liking the answer from her mirror about the identity of the most beautiful in the land, Queen Malevolent calls on a hitman named Heinrich to sort out her stepdaughter Snow White and Snow
White’s secret crush Prince Charles once and for all. Getting in the way of both the goodies and the baddies are the laundry mistress Dame Nora Virus and her son Muddles, the latter being besotted with Snow White. The hapless Fairy Apple Blossom tries to gin up an audience-alarm
system to help her save the goodies of the piece from harm, and the seven dwarves hide Snow White in their cabin from the baddies after a hard day in the diamond mine. Needless to say, all is well in the end; Queen Malevolent winds up working as a cleaner and Dame Nora Virus even ends
up with a suitor, Heinrich the hitman who sees the error of his ways.
Enthusiastically performed by familiar, returning and new faces at HATS, the production was well rehearsed, beautifully costumed as always, and featured a highly diverse and inclusive cast. (I had to smile at the inclusion of a 6-footer playing a dwarf.) Sue Perry was an exuberant Queen Malevolent, with Andrew Gookey a sometimes goofy, sometimes sharp Heinrich sporting a very dapper black fedora with a hat band in the colours of the German flag. Countering their villainy was Kira Daughenbaugh as sweet Snow White, Harry Carr as her befuddled Prince Charles, and director Gary Sander irrepressible as the batty Dame Nora Virus. David White was a charming Muddles, Dame Nora’s son, and Mary Sullivan bestowed upon Fairy Apple Blossom a motherly, nurturing spirit. The dwarves’ ranks delivered enjoyable performances, including a commanding Dimitri Lambo as Sarge, Finley Peckham as a bright-eyed Giggles, Fran Bool as Blondie, David Sismey as Hippy and Graham Whitaker as Oldie.
An imaginative but uncredited performance came from the actor playing a decorative suit of armour who cleverly and subtly – without saying a word -- won our attention away from the identifiable performers during a scene in the Queen’s castle.
Special effects loomed large in this production, and they worked well, enhancing the onstage action.
This tried-and-true story of fairy tale heroines, heroes and villains delighted its local audience and, judging by the dancing children in the audience at show’s end, had won new recruits to appear in next year’s panto production.
