“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” – Theatre Royal Nottingham

Is it panto time? Oh yes it is!

Nottingham’s offer for the 22-23 panto season was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, which played its last shows yesterday (I managed to get last minute complementary tickets thanks to Chris!). The story is as you would expect, so I won’t dwell on that too much here.

Instead, let’s begin by talking about the cast. Nottingham Theatre Royal often attracts celebrity cast members, and this year was no exception – Faye Tozer of Steps fame played the Wicked Queen Lucretia, and Joe Pasquale starred as her assistant Muddles. As such, there were plenty of Steps references (including a medley at the end) and lots of laughs courtesy of Pasquale, who often teamed up with Dame Nelly Nightnurse (David Robbins).

The pantomime very much centred around those three characters, meaning that the characters who were key to the plot – Snow White (Lucy Ireland) and Prince William (Jamal Kane Crawford) – were pushed to the side. In fact, the pantomime felt like a lot of generic comedy scenes with a bit of plot thrown in, but thankfully this didn’t dampen our enjoyment!

The show was technically impressive as well. The magic mirror rose from the orchestra pit and the animated reflection worked well alongside the real-life cast. Pasquale found himself in a fight with a spotlight at one point, and in a flying car at another point (using technology similar to the flying bed that I saw in ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ last year, I think!). The Dame’s many costume changes were also a sight to behold.

Alireza Sarebani, Karen Anderson, Blake Lisle, Willie Coppen, Simeon Dyer, Lucy Ireland, Andrew Martin and Katarzyna Meczynska

The Dwarfs, referred to as the Magnificent Seven, were played by Simeon Dyer, Karen Anderson, Willie Coppen, Blake Lisle, Andrew Martin, Katarzyna Meczynska and Alireza Sarebani. They were given names in the opening scene, but this was performed so quickly that I missed them, and from thereon none of them seemed to have any discernible personality traits, performing as a chorus rather than individuals. They are not even listed individually in the programme. A shame, as I feel giving the dwarfs different personality traits could have opened up lots of opportunities for jokes.

Overall, this was a fairly standard pantomime, hitting all the right notes and delivering what one would expect, yet not delivering anything that would set it above others. Still, at least it landed with a “Stomp” and not a “Tragedy” (those are Steps references, in case you were unsure).

Tom Morley, January 2023