Eric Idle could be forgiven for thinking there’s a Spamalot/Monty Python revival happening in Lincolnshire this winter, what with three, local pantomimes staging his comedy classic ‘The Song That Goes Like This’. However, The Lindsey Rural Players, based at the Broadbent Theatre, in Wickenby near Lincoln, arguably do it best; the two leads are naturally gifted vocalists (Siân Rees is positively operatic) which gives the comedy gravitas as well as being an accomplished song, in its own right. LRP’s gleeful revamp of The Snow Queen is not always so polished, but it is currently the most outwardly camp and gloriously ribald pantomime of the season. It oozes charisma, as well as effort and bravura.
Lincolnshire playwright Kei Bailey has written an innuendo-packed, truly ensemble pantomime. The script was spiced with deliberate ‘clunkers’ and far more witticisms, puns and throwaway lines, all well-delivered by the cast. Perhaps it’s because The Snow Queen feels like a relatively new pantomime title (and, subsequently, our expectations are somewhat eschewed), that the show frequently embraced a more surreal, even absurdist flavour, which plays very nicely among the more traditional elements.
The show - ably crafted by frequent pantomime director Jimbob Hewson, a performer with the most infectious energy – clearly has plot on the backfoot; an enchanted mirror is shattered, which carries the powers to freeze a person’s heart and turns them to ice. The wicked Snow Queen, Cryogenica (Nina Wilson-Razzell), uses this to capture the kind-hearted, good-natured Kay Merryweather (Jess Holt). It then falls upon Kay’s sister, Gerda (Rebekah Hardy) and other inhabitants of the town of Tottering-on-the-Brink to make an arduous journey through the Twisted Twig Wood, to find the Queen and her sidekick Jack Frost (Jimbob Hewson) in the Frozen Wasteland. The majority of the set-up is succinctly covered by an opening, very accomplished, video vignette – a clever use of the space of the comfortably intimate theatre.
Not to do a disservice to the unwavering, commanding performance from Wilson-Razzell in the titular role (she really is excellent), but the performances that really stick in your mind and land with the audience are the various dysfunctional comics that the story liberally picks up throughout the show. Anna Fane and Greg Fane as Private Grubb and Captain Keen give off very strong Blackadder (and Baldrick) Goes Forth vibes, Natalie Anderton gives an enigmatic, thoroughly likable, perpetually-in-motion performance as Cora the Crow (the two “mini-crows” are a genius addition of prop-comedy), and Kerry James delivers a downright masterclass in audience repartee with her Fonz-inspired characterisation of Jamie Dodger, the cheeky nephew to our Dame, Prudence Puddledub. A woman playing the Dame can still feel something of a novelty, however Siân Rees, who takes the role, is idyllically cast, throwing out the ritualistic sauce and self-mockery with brilliant zeal. For those who are looking for cross-dressing, well, there’s Ben Harris’ Fairy Sunbeam. The Fairy role really is on the peripheries in this script, but Harris has made it his own.
Taking the limelight, in particular, are Vidge Stacey, playing the freakishly bizarre Odd Bob, and Rachel Lindsay as the “tally-ho”-centric buffoon Prince Frederick, both hamming it up with relish, yet never appearing self-indulgent.
There’s an equally hardworking chorus, possibly enjoying more stage-time than some of the principals. A masterstroke from, I suspect, the director, script and the cast in unison, is to embody them with diverge personas. On a similar note, whereas the Merryweather sisters are somewhat rudimentary, both Hardy and Holt are extremely skilled – Hardy demonstrating a kindred spirit with the audience and Holt, quite possibly, possesses the best singing voice of the company. Cleverly, and luckily, Hewson and Bailey find moments for both Holt and Hardy to illustrate their comedic abilities; Holt’s solos make for some of the finest, and bravest, numbers in the show.
It's a tight space at the Broadbent, particularly when there are up to eighteen company members to house and contain! Choreography, courtesy of Storme Wilson-Eddowes, is lively and ever-changing, and Ceri Royston-German has knocked the songs into shape, with solos, duets, and chorus numbers constantly delivering. There are some gripes… the set, straightforward but with occasional flourishes, seemed more of a hindrance at times to the performers, and, coming in at ninety minutes for act one, well, the show, to me, did offer up some obvious chances for revising. Some of the songs were overlong, and the “slop” scene in the ice cream parlour struggled to raise many laughs; the appearances of Rainbow’s Zippy and George (and the recorded voices) was totally jarring and quelched the scene of any decent momentum.
The younger members of the audience loved all the cheering of the goodies and the booing of the baddies, and there were quite a few “among/with the audience” moments. This pantomime, however, is just as entertaining for the adults. There’s an epic sense of “adults playing kids”, and who doesn’t want to see that every once in a while?
The Snow Queen is being performed at the Broadbent Theatre until Sunday 8th February 2025, at various times. Please click on the link below for more information and to buy tickets.
Comentários