It’s nearly panto mime season once more, the family entertainment tailored to give young and old enjoyment. How did this mainly UK institution Christmas time festivity come about?
Influences came from the early masques of Tudor times, the Lord of Misrule, the Feast of Fools and the Italian commedia dell’arte. The Middle Ages had mummers’ plays, often linked around St. George and the Dragon. In the early 17th century, John Weaver’s silent dumbshows later included speech, stage magic and comedy. The early 19th century replaced the classical stories with European fairy tales or English nursery rhymes. This background gradually evolved into what we would now recognise as a pantomime.
There are stock characters and cross dressing. The dame is a man. Until recent times the principal boy was a female but now tends to be a male celebrity. There is a comic character like Buttons in Cinderella and always an evil villain. Comic characters tell jokes, some with innuendos that escape young children but amuse adults with slapstick sessions often cleverly performed. There are songs, dancing and audience participation. All these factors combined wrap around a well-known fairy story, the whole becoming, for many, an essential part of Christmas festivities.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs could be difficult to envelop all the above criteria. It is not a fairy story and no fairy godmother. It could be defined as a magical story. There is no obvious character who could be a dame, so at times Snow White’s nurse or even the palace cook takes this role. A comic character is also missing. This gap can be for example a lad who works in the kitchen. Comedy and singing may come from the dwarfs. Although the dwarfs thrived amongst their own company and were suspicious of Snow White at first, they did accept her when she cleaned the house and made them a delicious meal, this feeling turning into affection and wanting to protect her from the Wicked Queen, who is, of course one of the worst villains in any pantomime.
Grimm’s fairy tales are indeed grim. None more so than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The wicked queen has an abundance of the seven deadly sins. She is proud of her beauty. This leads her to envy Snow White who becomes more beautiful than her. Envy deepens into hatred which in turn leads her to want to murder Snow White. In the original Grimm tale, when the huntsman returns from the forest with the boar’s heart, she salts it, cooks it and eats it, thinking it to be the heart of Snow White. In the 1937 Disney film, the Wicked Queen meets her demise by being crushed by a boulder as she falls from a cliff during a thunderstorm but Grimm destroys her by having her dance to her death whilst wearing a pair of red-hot iron shoes.
Press day for Snow White and the seven dwarfs
It will be very interesting how Enchanted Entertainment moulds the essence of the Grimm’s magical tale into the “world’s most-loved panto” with “great songs, dazzling routines, and plenty of laughs for the family.” The Press Day at the Tyne Theatre 17 November gave an insight on how this would be achieved.
At the front two rows of the grand old theatre, a class of school children eagerly awaited a short sketch. Charlie Richmond, the court jester Muddles, introduced the main characters. His friendly Geordie accent soon encouraged audience participation as well as promising comedy and humour.
Grace Davison from South Shields, as Snow White was decked in a recognisable Snow White costume. She gave an emotionally vibrant rendition of Journey to the Past from Anastasia. If the music is up to her standard, as I’m sure it will be, it will be brilliant.
Regan Gascoigne looked every bit the handsome prince. He has performed in The Nutcracker with the English National Ballet and with his partner they won Dancing on Ice in 2022. There will be some fantastic dancing. Twist and Pulse; Ashley Glazebrook and Glen Murphy, 2019 Champions in Britain’s Got Talent will entertain all with their own choregraphed street dancing and comedy. Ashley and Glen did a short spot of their routine and from me they would certainly have been given the Golden Buzzer, even though they are the evil henchmen of the wicked queen!
Lewis Denny plays Dame Dotty, Snow White’s nurse. He has a fine singing voice and with Muddles together, I’m sure there will be some hilarious comedy as well as audience participation.
Penelope McDonald looked every part the wicked queen in her costume of red and black and Maleficent headdress. Her lair, with the magic mirror, will have magical effects and a red-hot cauldron where she will conjure up the poison apple. She won’t however, suffer a miserable end, instead, somehow, and I am eager to discover, she will be transformed from being evil to being good.
The dwarfs were last to be introduced, carrying their spades off to dig in the diamond mine. Their names and characters will be close to that of the Disney film of 1937, so that will involve comedy too.
This promises to be a great production of a rather grim Grimm tale that has been adapted to become a great pantomime for young. not so young and even the very, very old. Oh yes it will be!
