Review: SNOW WHITE, Devonshire Park Theatre

Photo credit: Peter Gurr Creative

In this new take on a classic tale, Prince Simon has travelled from as far as far Sofaria in search of adventure. Finding himself lost in a small, man-less village, he soon learns that the fairest maiden in all the land resides here, none other than…the Wicked Queen. Whilst on his way to meet the Queen, he bumps into Snow White and it is clearly love at first sight. Surely this is happily ever after? But when the magic mirror hints that Snow might take her place as the fairest of them all, the Wicked Queen hatches a dastardly plan to take Snow White out.

Eastbourne Theatres have been putting on a pantomime annually since 2001, with their first show being Aladdin. Since then, they have performed Snow White only twice, with their latest version having been updated to suit current audiences. In this particular production, Georgie Hales and Ben Tyler join Eastbourne panto cast regulars Martyn Knight, Tucker and Cali Norris for the first time.

The interactive sets on this show are spectacular. They’re bright and colourful without taking away from or clashing harshly with the costumes. Even though it only appears for about two scenes, we especially love the diamond mine set with its mine carts moving in the background and the rockfall explosion, which happens when a prop stick of dynamite is thrown at it. Dame Dolly’s costumes are iconic and Herbie the Vegetarian Huntsman‘s costume is as fun and creative as the show itself with its various vegetable appliques.

The show itself contains a lot, if not all, of the tropes of classic pantomime: call and response, rhyming couplets for villains, “it’s behind you”, “oh no it isn’t”, the flirty dame, puns, the sing-a-long, parody/song lyric alterations, shout outs and, one of the lesser used tropes, the moral of the story poem. The placement of these tropes is exceedingly well considered within Chris Jordan’s script, meaning that they become well integrated as part of the story as opposed to just being there to meet the generic conventions of a British pantomime. This really helps the audience to fully engage with the show, as shown by how reactive and willing to participate the eleven o’clock audience was during the performance we saw. The trope twist with Snow White being the hero who ends up saving the day as opposed to the Prince is a stroke of genius, which has everyone cheering in excitement and relief.

It is clear that the actors understand the performance medium intimately and how to maintain the energy required throughout. A particularly stand out performance is that of Ben Tyler, who really sells the role of the excitable and bewildered Prince. He really makes the role memorable by giving Prince Simon a layered personality, which can sometimes be lacking in modern pantos, making us really root for him to find Snow White when she goes missing and really helps us to understand why Snow would fall in love with him, aside from the fact that he’s a Prince.

Another stand out performance goes to that of Cali Norris who plays the Wicked Queen expertly. A villain can really make or break a pantomime and, let’s face it, who doesn’t love to hate a great villain? From the second she enters, she has full command of the stage. Rhyming couplets are hard to perform consistently and she is incredibly talented at doing this whilst staying in character. ‘I Wanna Talk About Bruno’ as a parody of Encanto’s ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ becomes a particularly epic villain moment and a striking way to kick off Act Two, especially with her strong singing voice.

Additionally, the cast seem to love what they’re doing, which further draws the audience in. They have a great dynamic and it is an absolute joy to watch them improvise in an absolutely bizarre version of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’.

Traditional pantomime storytelling at its finest with a fresh modern twist. If you’re sitting in the front row, beware of inevitable audience interaction and if you’re sitting in stalls, prepare to get a bit wet!

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Megan O’Neill

Snow White plays at Eastbourne’s Devonshire Park Theatre until 12 January, with further info here.