It is always a joy to see the Theatre Royal in St Helens buzzing with activity. The theatre has served the town for well over a century and the management team are deeply committed to providing entertainment tailored to the local community. Few shows generate the same excitement as their in-house produced pantos, so it is no surprise to find the house sold out and packed to the gunnels for this week’s press night for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Writer Liam Mellor and director Chantelle Nolan have seamlessly blended traditional storytelling with touches of contemporary local reference in a piece of genuine family entertainment, which has its key focus on grabbing the attention of the younger members of the audience.
The stage is filled with light and colour, and the Regal Entertainments team have pulled out all the stops with a myriad of fairytale backdrops and a magical cottage, which transforms the stage as we find ourselves in the woodland home of Snow White’s new-found friends.
Chantelle Morgan and Coronation Street’s Emrhys Cooper are a perfect fit for Snow White and Prince Frederick, both giving great singing performances, with Cooper showing off some nifty dance moves. Richard Aucott makes a welcome return as Nurse Nelly, and is very much steeped in the tradition of the British Panto Dame, sporting an impressive array of extravagant costumes, although one red and blue number that is adorned with the words ‘Goodison Park’ might be in need of an update before long!
Every panto has to have its villain, and here we find Maureen Nolan in top venom-dripping form. Revelling in the boos from the audience, Nolan is a suitably creepy presence and carries off her verbal exchanges with Leanne Campbell’s pre-recorded magic mirror with precision.
Another firm favourite with the St Helens crowd is Lewis Devine, who plays the main comic and narrative role of Muddles. Whilst as ever engaging in the slapstick scenes and delivering much of the double entendre in the script, Devine has happily been given more than the usual opportunity to demonstrate that he is not only a comic but has a fine singing voice - here’s hoping that this becomes a regular occurrence.
One conundrum facing modern panto producers is how to present the seven ‘Dwarfs’ of the story. In previous years we have seen various approaches to this, and here we have seven puppeteers, each of whom operates one the characters, whose faces mime to a recorded dialogue track featuring seven local celebrities. This particular jury member’s verdict is still undecided over how successful the brightly coloured camouflage of the puppeteers is, and I can’t help wondering whether they may blend into the background more successfully if they were in stage blacks or ‘plain’ clothes. Nonetheless, the puppets themselves are visually appealing and their badinage is fun, although separated from their familiar faces it can be tricky to recognise some of the celebrity voices behind them.
Additional crowd pleasing cuteness is found in the inclusion of a canine presence, with several dogs from Jema Leopold and her Doggie Delights, who take part in several of the crowd and dance scenes as well as performing a short interlude of tricks.
Regulars will be delighted to see the reappearance of the ‘Twelve days of Christmas’ routine - complete with its Five Toilet Rolls - which this year reaches previously untapped heights of lunacy as the cast milk it for everything it has got, seemingly losing the plot several times during its execution and triggering a nifty piece of technical mayhem that requires the appearance of a burly stage hand.
It all goes off with the clockwork precision of a well oiled machine, and the energy is sustained relentlessly throughout, but what is more noticeable than anything is the extraordinary way that the show engages with the children in the audience. At key moments of jeopardy in the storyline the screams from the auditorium are absolutely deafening, showing that the kids are totally invested in the characters and their exploits. It is this sort of reaction that is a better measure of the success of a show than the words of any theatre critic, and the decision appears to be completely unanimous.
Choreographer Nazene Langfield’s stage movement is enhanced by a troupe of dancers, whilst musical supervisor Callum Clarke’s score is as tight and well produced as ever. Slight reservations over the Seven Dwarfs aside this is another triumph for St Helens, and is sure to pack houses right the way through until 12th January, with tickets available here, but hurry because they are selling fast!
Star Rating 4½ stars
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| Chantelle Morgan, Emrhys Cooper and Ensemble - Picture by David Munn |
This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool
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