Review: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, New Wimbledon Theatre

Wimbledon can be justly proud of the vintage panto it is serving up this year. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is perfect Christmas-time family entertainment: fast, funny and full of good tunes. Veteran director Jonathan Kiley knows his stuff: his career is long enough for him to have performed with Norman Wisdom. He has started with great basic ingredients, selecting singers, comedians, dancers, musicians and performers who are all highly experienced and good at what they do, rather than blowing the budget on one big name.

So we have the excellent Ruthie Henshall as the gloating, streetwise villain, Queen Lucretia. Cheeky Dick and Dom effortlessly ad-lib as Snow White’s loveable comic friends; they bounce off the ever-brilliant Matthew Kelly as Mrs Nelly Nightnurse, the dame, who mildly drops innuendos while dressed in an eye-popping succession of lurid and ludicrous costumes. Stage magician John Archer deftly mixes magic tricks with joke-telling, and joins in with the slapstick and silly songs. Reality star and Loose Women panellist Brenda Edwards’s big, soulful voice soars through the songs as she plays the Spirit of Pantomime. The heart-throb Prince Lee of Lambeth is attractively played by Lee Mead, who has released numerous albums and developed an acting career on Holby City since winning the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do (lots of the audience joined in when he reprised that song). Hannah Lowther, a talented singer and dancer who was the first West End actress ever to play all three Heathers in Heathers the Musical, interprets Snow White as a brave, non-swooning heroine who knows her own mind.

Little kids in the audience had no time to get restless as the plot unfolded at a brisk tempo with plenty of jokes and frequent changes of scene and mood. The dancing by the ensemble cast was exciting – stage dancing has really improved since we all started watching Strictly. The dwarfs were all played by full-sized actors on their knees, which looked quite funny. The familiar story includes a few other modern twists to bring it up to date (no spoilers). The special effects too are a mix of old and new: there are flash-bangs and footlights and fireworks that a 19th century audience would recognise, and a shower of snow and a magic mirror that are very much 21st century. The result is a vintage pantomime in the variety tradition. It is funny and silly; the music is excellent; the audience knew the songs; the traditionalists will be happy but we have a modernised plot that went down a treat.

New Wimbledon Theatre, until 31 December

Image: Hannah Lowther and Lee Mead, credit Craig Sugden

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