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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (pic : Amy Holland)[/caption]This year Tip Top Productions returned with another magical Christmas pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, directed by Rob Stevens.
Waiting upstairs in the foyer, all that could be heard was the laughter and screaming of children excitedly waiting to go downstairs to see Snow White. Brownie groups, Rainbow groups and lots of families had all come to watch one of the most well-known children’s stories acted out in panto form.
Once seated, the lights dimmed and the stage filled with smoke and then the Fairy played by Fiona MacSween / Annie Howarth (depending on which night) appeared singing a song to introduce the play. Then, queue tons of fun, fast-paced singing and dancing from the whole cast and the pace never let up! Add a few ‘he’s behind you’s!’ and you have a classic Christmas panto.
I have to give special credit to Simple Simon, played by Dan Ellis. He really made the audience comfortable and was absolutely hilarious. Whenever he ran onto the stage I could hear fits of giggles from all the children.
Also, Nurse Kitty Litter played by Phil Edwards was hilarious with his innuendo jokes and crazy dress changes! The audience couldn’t stop laughing when a video of him seeing all of the sights in Chester was projected onto the set.
The main character of Snow White played by Rebecca Roberts, reminded me of the actual Disney character. She was sweet and princess-like just like Snow White should be. George, the servant boy, played by Kathryn Wilson brought many sing-along anthems to the play and really picked up the tempo.
As in all panto’s, you have to have a villain and she came in the form of the Evil Queen played by Pippa Redmayne. She made sure the audience really booed her by saying in her first few lines, ‘I HATE little boys and I HATE little girls!’ and it was fantastic to watch all the children getting up off their seats to boo her! Also, her costume was very evil-looking but very good.
The Seven Dwarfs, played by various different children on different nights, were very adorable as they walked onto the stage singing ‘Hi-ho, hi-ho’. In particular the girl who played ‘Jolly’ was fantastic and acted very well for her age.
Samantha Wilkinson came to see the play with her husband and two young children, she said: “The kids loved it as you’d expect! To be honest I wasn’t really ecstatic to be seeing something that’s for kids but the Nurse really made me laugh! I’ll be coming back next year to watch the next panto, think it’s Alladin!”
Getting the audience to sing along to ‘The Fox’ by Ylvis near the end of the panto was very funny and references to Twitter and well-known celebrities also brought the it up-to date.
This year’s pantomime was truly well thought-out and the cast really made it a special play to watch. Looking around at the children’s faces afterwards showed that it was a complete success!
Chester Intelligencer Reporter, Amy Holland
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