REVIEW | Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snarestone Village Pantomime Society.
Snarestone Village Pantomime Society
★★★★★
Pantomimes are traditionally a Christmas affair, but for Snarestone, a rural village in Leicestershire their traditional pantomime is bound to put a spring in your step. The Snarestone Village Pantomime Society is a community of people, including families, who come together to perform a pantomime for audiences from in and outside of the village. This year’s production ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ is truly wonderful and will have you laughing out loud.
The performance has been excellently written by Debbie Evans and directed by Tim Shaw. They have created a pantomime that incorporates modern references, including hits from the Greatest Showman, through song and dance as well as the traditional slapstick comedy pantomime can’t be without. While the story was loosely tied to the Goldilocks fairytale they also managed to incorporate aspects of many others to flesh out the performance and give it it’s own unique twist, not only to the story but to the characters as well. You may think you know everything you need to know of the tale and the three bears, but there are plenty of surprises waiting for you in this rendition, just remember to keep your eyes on daddy bear and you’ll soon realise why there are more bears around than there should be!
Playing the title role of Goldilocks is Millie Pepper, a fantastic young lady with excellent voice projection and may professional qualities that makes for a wonderful leading lady. Her rendition of A Million Dreams brought thunderous applause and cheers. It’s clear that she has a lot of potential in the future.
Taking on the responsibilities of playing the dame is James Hunt who was very well received as Grandma Locks. In true dame style, Hunt plays the character with an extremely camp performance and in a melodramatic style that the audience loves watching.
Ohhh and let’s chat about the Big Bag Wolf (Mike Gee) who was fantastic as the villian and it’s not long before the room is full of boos and hisses. Gee is really exceptional and toes the line of being filthy with this “third leg” which left the women in the audience slightly flustered.
As mentioned before however Debbie has done a fantastic job of making this story her own and the side story of the gypsy fortune teller played by Emma Pepper falling for the ringleader of the circus Jonny Painting, made for a wonderful romantic counterpoint to the rest of the actions and comedy, though it goes without saying that even their parts were full of humour and laughs as well as some truly fantastic musical numbers. Especially their dance number which really wowed the audience.
Collectively the casting of the Snarestone village pantomime shows their true passion and enjoyment in putting on a show, although final night celebrations meant some lines were missed and some unexpected additions to the show. This did add to the hilarity of the show and didn’t make it unenjoyable.
This pantomime really embraces community at its heart with people of all ages involved in its success. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a production that will be enjoyed by the entire family, with enough for both adults and children. In times where society feels so divided by politics, it’s communities such as Snarestone that reminds me of what we should be proud of.