Mansfield.

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
by Andrew Ryan.

Leeming Street NG18 1NG To 6 January 2013.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval.

TICKETS: 01623 633133.
palacetheatre@mansfield.gov.uk.
Review: Alan Geary: 7th December 2012.

An unselfish production. Terrific fun for all ages.
Snow White is back at the Palace Theatre Mansfield this Christmas and it really is terrific fun for all ages. Writer/Director Andrew Ryan – having played many outstanding Dames, he himself is no stranger to pantomime in the area – ensures this is an unselfish production. Each of the principals has plenty of scope to shine.

With her ringing spoken voice, Snow White herself is, rightly, played by Nia Jermin not as a focus of glamour but of wholesomeness. The love interest Prince Frederick (played by a bloke, Nick Walton) sings with an American accent, but it’s a good voice.

Mark James, who enters the action on a scooter, is gormless funny man Muddles. He has great rapport with the audience and a silly voice with a tripe and onions Lancastrian accent. It being Notts, he also has a pet duck called Eh Up Duck – this is a very localised production. As always, nearby Chesterfield and Shirebrook take thrashings.

The splendid Charles Burden, as Nurse Dolly, with a different and increasingly outrageous outfit every time he/she appears, is outstanding. He/she never resorts to smut but aims the innuendo neatly over the heads of the tinies – he’s worked, he tells us, for a few wicked queens in his time.

Tupele Dorgu is leggily glamorous as this Wicked Queen – in fact, that mirror’s right all along when it says she’s the fairest of them all. She’s the best actor of the evening, and she does some great numbers too, like ‘I Wanna Be Evil’ with the boy dancers. Song and dance is a strong feature throughout the evening. Some super adult hoofers are ably supported by youngsters from Expressions Performing Arts and Chesterfield’s Academy of Dance.

The Seven Dwarfs complete with ‘Hi Ho, Hi Ho’ and the wonderful ‘Whistle While You Work’, are played by seven real dwarfs – somehow not quite PC perhaps but entertaining all the same . Their cottage exterior and unfolding interior is one of the best bits of scenery in the show.

Costumes, especially at the final line-up, are sumptuous.

This one’s going to pack them in. On the evidence of press night, quite right too.

Wicked Queen: Tupele Dorgu.
Muddles: Mark James.
Snow White: Nia Jermin.
Nurse: Charles Burden.
Prince: Nick Walton.
Dwarfs: Leah Flack, Binde Johal, Albert Wilkinson, Darren Horan, Emma Jones, Francesca Mills, Craig Salisbury.
Villagers: Michael Porter, Ryan Douglas, April Clarke, Kate Hallam, Lauren Siddall, Cora Vanaman.
Village Children: The Academy of Dance, Expressions Performing Arts.

Director: Andrew Ryan.
Lighting: Dai Evans.
Musical Director: Martyn St James.
Choreographer: Ewan Jones.

2012-12-10 01:07:31