By Tom Taylor, Digital Editor
Panto Soc's Snow White: The Panto was a delight to watch and had the audience laughing and cheering right from the very beginning.
As a stressful term grinds slowly to a halt, my Thursday evening is spent looking for some good, old-fashioned light relief. A distraction from the essay mark I await with baited breath and a general election hanging ominously over the country.
Panto Soc’s Christmas offering, Snow White: The Panto, provides just that. It’s a deliberately messy retelling of Grimm’s classic fairy tale, borrowing from Alice in Wonderland and adding a dash of Sherlock Holmes, from directors Amber Saunders and Rory Green.
Jamie Davis, as Mrs Hudson, won the audience over from the start with fantastic delivery and physical humour. Jamie shared most of his scenes with Charlotte Bowyer and Ryan Blyth, who played narrators Sherlock and Watson, and the relationship between the three gave the show a really watchable, funny structure. This was particularly true in the first half of the performance and the audience quickly warmed to the trio’s playful dynamic.
Gemma Smith and Megan Good, who played Snow White and the Mad Hatter respectively, gave confident, engaging performances and made a real effort to connect with the audience. A highlight was Megan’s rendition of Dizzy Rascal’s Bonkers, which had me laughing throughout and was a joy to watch.
Snow White: The Panto was at its best when the scenes were short and snappy. Katharine Harrison as the delightfully sassy Wizard brought a lot of energy and natural humour to the role and was one of the best performances of the night.
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Credit must also go to the set designers and costume department who had clearly put a lot of effort and thought into their selections. Traditional painted boards contrasted nicely with more modern light-backed screens.
As often the case with pantos, much of the humour relied on an awkward tension and energy which was present throughout. During longer scenes, such as in the dungeon or at the Royal Court, the energy fizzled out leaving just genuine awkwardness. Due to nerves or inexperience, well written jokes were often lost in lack of projection and audience awareness.
Fortunately, however, the awkward moments were few and far between and made up for in more confident scenes which earned laughter and cheers. Sendhilen Ramen’s monologue as an exams officer earned one of the biggest laughs of the night, as did Chi Jun Chung’s outrageous, innuendo filled turn as the ‘Naughty Huntsman’.
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Whilst not all of the jokes landed as intended, especially those aimed at the audience, the writing from Eleanor Allen was excellent overall. This was especially true of the musical numbers which had the audience dancing in their seats and clapping along.
Michael Canning as Danny from Grease, Zara Burton who played Lance, a stereotypical Bristol student, and Stephen Murphy as a generic Bristolian were some of the strongest performances of the night as they embraced their roles with great enthusiasm and humour.
This was also true of Megan Green and Charlie Siret who played Finn and Jake from Adventure Time, although I would have liked to have seen then given more stage time to develop rapport with the audience.
Snow White: The Panto was a delight to watch and I left the Winston Theatre with a smile on my face. Whilst there were moments of awkwardness and questionable timing, it kept the audience on side and I laughed, cheered, booed and hissed throughout.
★★★★
Featured: Panto Soc
There are still tickets left to see Snow White: The Panto!
