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Show: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Society: Richmond Theatre (professional)
Venue: Little Green, Richmond
Credits: Alan McHugh and Jonathan Kiley
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 12/12/2019
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Chris Abbott | 13 Dec 2019 12:56pm
l-r front Jo Brand (Queen Lucretia) & James Darch (Prince Harry) and back Kai Deighton (Ensemble) & Zach Parkin (Ensemble). Photo: Craig Sugden
This year’s Richmond panto has an unusual beginning, with the Seven Dwarfs – here billed as the Magnificent Seven – setting the scene. Casting these roles is always a problem, with as many short actors relying upon the work as there are disdaining it as stereotypical. On the face of it, to cast a group of skilled actors with nicely differentiated characters, and working on their knees as in Shrek, seems like a good idea. For most of the time, due to the skills of the actors, it works, with only a very occasional cringeworthy joke about their height. I still wonder if these portrayals do affect the lives of short people however, with some resenting the way in which they get called after the Dwarfs.
We don’t see much of the Magnificent Seven however, not a great deal of the title character and not much more of her prince either. This is a great shame, as the principals are strongly played, with Mia Starbuck’s vigorous Snow White far from the usual passive portrayal. As Prince Harry, James Darch not only fills that role well, he is a strong singer and can lead numbers confidently. In the absence of a king or other straight man role, he also fills this gap, showing his considerable abilities here too. It was good to see the return of a tongue twister routine, but the laughs would not have been there if the prince had not been able to say the lines perfectly before others mangled them.
With a six-strong ensemble as well as alternating groups of ‘babes’, this is a large cast for a present-day pantomime, perhaps accounting for the fairly limited changes of set and costume: although these were effective and looked at their best in the pantomime-perfect surroundings of Frank Matcham’s 120-year-old theatre. The less said about the on-screen magic mirror character the better, looking more like an escapee from Lord of the Rings than a magical pantomime presence.
Headlining this year is Jo Brand, a genial and good-natured presence who nevertheless seems better suited to playing the villain than the rather world-weary portrayal she gave at Wimbledon in her panto debut. Once again, she is at her best when ad-libbing occasional asides, the scripted lines providing rather more of a challenge. She throws herself into the audience exchanges however and does her best to be suitably evil, and it is perhaps not her fault that she is always at heart a likeable character.
Jason Sutton is a strong traditional dame, if one with a fairly small wardrobe, and works well in comedy routines with others as well as holding the audience when on his own, though he does not have as much to do as in some productions. He is at his best when sharing the stage with Jon Clegg’s Muddles, and it is good to see the pair on top of their game in this way. Clegg is a returnee to Richmond and carries most of the show, including (at least on Press Night) one of the funniest scenes with children from the audience I have seen for a long time. He has that ability, rare among comics, of laughing with the children rather than at them; and his humour throughout was quite properly aimed at a 7-year-old level. Although known for his impressions, he got these out of the way early on and concentrated on winning the audience over and keeping them on side. In a strong production, directed by Stewart Nicholls, Clegg is the standout performance in this pacy and enjoyable show.
- : admin
- : 12/12/2019