Snow White – and how to pick a panto!
Little Wolf Productions at Loughborough Town Hall
It would be fair to say that panto can be incredibly hit and miss. In 30-odd (odd probably being the operative word) years of reviewing shows, I’ve witnessed countless pantos (most from the audience, a few from the stage!), from community productions to the biggest star-studded extravaganzas on offer.
Thankfully there are always some bright lights in the darkness, but before my top panto pick, here’s some advice if you can’t decide to which of the many on offer you should go.
So here’s my first take-out. Celebrity billings are no guarantee of success. I’ve seen professional dancers thrown into starring roles when their acting is dubious, radio stars take the lead and drive a show precisely nowhere, and pop stars who can barely string a legible sentence together.
The celebrities who produce the wow factor are (surprise!) usually those who are the trained performers – whether they’ve honed their craft for years in comedy clubs, musical theatre or rep. Obviously the musical theatre stars already have the triple-threat skills to carry off panto, although they sometimes find it tricky to deal with the level of audience-interaction required. Comedians fare better on that score and can usually get away with a song and dance routine.
TV stars can do well with panto if they’re theatre-school trained, reality TV stars – famous for being famous – much less so.
Standout headliners over the years include Brian Conley, Matt Slack, Bradley Walsh, Ceri Dupree, Joe Pasquale – they sing, dance, act, they’re funny, and they’re showmen who’ve worked the circuit for years. These are the ones who can handle a heckle, turn a hiccup into hilarity and often have their fellow performers corpsing. It’s high-octane stuff which brings in the crowds year-on-year and justifies their salary.
Second take-out: don’t forget the story. Yes panto has its set-pieces, from foam pies and slapstick, to the obligatory monster/ghost “it’s behind you” sequence, to a UV sequence. But if they don’t fit the story, they make no sense. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve gone with traditional principal boy played by a girl, updated the names of the characters or are using puppets for dwarves – story is everything and we want to see good triumph evil, love win, a songsheet and a wedding!
Thirdly, keep it relatively relevant. Grown-ups need entertaining too – so throw in some pop classics that we all know, as well as some modern tunes for the younger ones. A few smart jokes that work over the kids’ heads (cleverly-crafted innuendo yes; smut and crudeness, no), outlandish costumes, some dry ice/glitterball to create magic, and we’re generally happy to have forked out the ticket price.
And of course, so much of this is down to the writer and director. Iain Lauchlan gets it. As does Morgan Brind. Perhaps it helps that both have played Dame – the quintessential part of the show.
The latter is founder of Little Wolf Entertainment, producer at venues including Derby Arena and Loughborough Town Hall.
And it’s there that we now turn to review this year’s Snow White, up there in the upper echelons with its non-celebrity, big on story and huge on talent offering.
Frankly, it’s brilliant.
From an opera-singing Dame dressed as a vacuum cleaner to an hilariously vain villainess who actually has something to do, special effects, great use of a trapdoor, dancing kids and supersized woodland creatures – it’s packed from start to finish with fun.
We have a Snow White in Emma Robertson who boasts a spirited-loveliness and an infectious smile which never leaves her face, leaving no doubt as to why she might be hailed the fairest in the land. This marks her professional debut and it certainly won’t be her last panto – she’s instantly likeable and belts out a fine tune too, from Taylor Swift duets with Prince Rupert to a rewritten version of Astonishing from the Little Women musical. Rupert (Ben Williamson-Jones) is woefully underused, but that becomes a feature of the story with various gags cracked at his expense and again, he’s remarkably likeable rather than the stuffy Royals panto usually offers.
Matthew Siveter’s Dame Cilla Bang is a cleaner with attitude. She’s feisty, funny, frenetic at times and that aforementioned operatic voice is a delight. The “story told in vegetables” routine is a hit, not least with the groan-inducing “from my head down to-ma-toes” line.
Little Wolf has sensibly locked Siveter into a contract, but it won’t be long before he’s off to one of the bigger panto companies. One to watch.
And kudos too to Cara Dudgeon, usually principal girl but now relishing getting her teeth into the wicked queen’s angst. She’s a villainess for the selfie-“you know you love me really”-generation, obsessed with her looks, refusing to wear glasses, filled with cut-glass sneering diction and pure down-the-nose disdain for we mere mortals, as well as boasting a great voice and solid comic timing.
With glitterballs, disco-dancing dwarves and a cast like this, who needs the big barn venues with their pricey tickets and celebrity billings. Take me back to Loughborough!
Five stars!