Festival Theatre Edinburgh – until 22 January 2023
Reviewed by Jo Gordon
4****
It’s Panto season, a time for Dames to get their wigs out, Villains to dust off the black pleather and families to get together for a few hours of fun ….. what’s not to love!
I’m pretty new to Scotland but have been enthusiastically informed by many that Allan Stewart (Nurse May), Grant Stott ( Lord Lucifer) and more recently Jordan Young (Muddles) are Edinburgh’s Panto legends, traditionally performing at Kings Theatre, but due to its refurb finding a temporary home at the Festival Theatre.
This year it is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, With Francesca Ross as Snow White, Brian James Leys as Prince Hamish and Liz Ewing doing her best to rid the Queendom of Snow White as Queen Dragonella.
It’s a very fast paced, colourful extravaganza! Sometimes I felt it was too fast though, and struggled to follow what was going on, as at times, the lengthy skits between Stewart, Stott and Young somewhat overshadowed the Snow White story. On occasion, the adult aimed jokes were slightly the wrong side of the line for a theatre full of youngsters despite meaning to go over their heads.
However, there were some fabulous larger than life special effects and toe tapping, hand clapping show tunes which more than made up for that. The traditional, funny, panto mayhem is just what we all need in the current climate to lift the spirits and I certainly left the theatre full of seasonal cheer.