Hull New Theatre – until 2nd January 2022
Reviewed by Catherine McWilliams
4****
After the times we have had I desperately wanted Snow White to be full of fun and laughter and all the traditional cheer that a Christmas panto provides and it delivered exactly that and more! For over two hours last night the packed Hull New Theatre forgot they were wearing masks, forgot about the last few months and their worries and laughed and cheered and loved the silliness and nonsense that is a good old-fashioned pantomime. Panto is always a joyous occasion and with all that we have been through recently Snow White gave us sparkle and joy in abundance.
You’ve got your masks on so you all need to cheer and boo louder than ever said Muddles (Neil Hurst) as Snow White began and the audience did just that, making enough noise to raise the roof. By its very nature panto is interactive, it thrives on audience participation and by heck did the audience participate! The theatre was buzzing from the start, whether it was booing Queen Lucretia (Poppy Tierney) or shouting at Muddles and his nonsense the audience were totally immersed. Towards the end when we were all up singing, I suspect the adults were having as much fun (if not more) than the children because let’s face it a good panto brings out the child in us all!
In a nutshell the story of Snow White involves an evil Queen who wants to be rid of the beautiful Snow White, some dwarfs she stays with and a prince who rescues her. In a panto of course the story often comes in second place and there are lots of additional scenes allowing for the comedy and silliness to occur.
Neil Hurst is a class act as Muddles, working the audience with consummate skill, the purveyor of some dreadful jokes and the glue that pulls the whole panto together. He clearly loves every minute of it as he bounces around the stage and his energy and joy is infectious.
Nigel Ellacott plays the dame Nurse Nigella with utter style and makes the perfect partner for Muddles, the two bouncing off one another with their nonsense and occasional corpsing. The adults in the audience were often ahead of the pair, anticipating with glee what was to come! Nurse Nigella’s costumes were unbelievable, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone wearing a Marmite jar before! Reading the programme, I discovered that Nigel designs and creates all his own costumes. Mention should also go to Nurse Nigella’s eyelashes, she fluttered them with style, but to see them so well from the middle of the stalls they must have been enormous.
Faye Brookes made for a sweet Princess Snow White, with just the right amount of sugar. She has a lovely singing voice.
For me Poppy Tierney was outstanding as Queen Lucretia, she was stunningly evil and had the most incredible singing voice. The lighting at times silhouetted her turning her green, making her appear even more evil.
Snow White does not have a huge cast and all of them worked so hard to ensure that the audience had the best of times. This is not a panto full of technical gadgetry but a deceptively simple production with glittering backdrops and lighting providing the magic. Music was provided by the Hull New Theatre Band (Jon Chamberlain, Lisa Featherston and Mark Knight) making enough noise to make you think the orchestra pit was full of musicians.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a very traditional panto, full of everything you would want – audience participation, bad jokes, the jokes that go over the children’s heads, music, dance, a happy ending but most of all laughter and happiness.
Watching the children’s awe and wonder, their glee as they screamed at the Queen is wonderful in itself. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a full-on traditional family pantomime providing the perfect escape from these times.
Oh, and I swear you could see the smiles on people’s faces through their masks as they left the theatre last night. Thank you, you lifted us all up.