Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
How do you review a York University pantomime? You can’t compare it to any other performance, on campus or otherwise. To compare to another pantomime would do a disservice to the creators who try and avoid the old stereotypes of C-list celeb, ‘family friendly’ clichés. To compare it to a musical or a comedy would be to play down its uniquely welcoming (and at the same time anarchic) atmosphere that the cast work so hard to create. To compare it to serious drama would frankly just be silly. So, HOW DO I review it?
Let’s start with basics then. The principle actors as an ensemble produced a range of at times hysterical performances. Catherine Bennett as Snow White was thoroughly, almost disgustingly, sweet. Here energy was kept at a constant high and angelic temperament was undercut by her apparent double life as a porn star; Bennett managing to keep a straight face while delivering some of the crudest comedic lines is a testament to her. It is no mean feat to be the straight man when you are surrounded by a cast of thespian dwarves, skinless animals and less than charming princes. Freddy Elletson was a very endearing Half-Pint and I think made the majority of the female audience feel rather broody. The dwarves were definitely show-stealers, with Tom Vickers as their leader playing a thesp with a speech impediment holding the audience’s attention, while the other 6 (Telepathy being my personal favourite) had certainly the vast majority of the lines which made me belt out snorting laugher. The evil trio of Hunter (Josh Giles), the Mirror (Tom Stokes) and the indomitable Helen White playing the Queen had some fast-paced hilarious banter which would make any comic actor jealous. There are simply too many characters and actors to mention all individually but I will say that those who did come to the fore were truly memorable.
The script itself, while dragging at times, was on the whole entertaining and put an interesting spin on the old grim fairy tale, with visits to underworld beauty pageants galore. The moments when the panto did seem to slow down and cut off the energy (which the performers had rightly earned mere moments ago) were the set pieces. They were, unlike the rest of the performance, under-rehearsed, sometimes verging on sloppy and in the main poorly judged. Without these seemingly random dalliances into song and dance the panto would have kept the pace it needed for a performance of this length, especially considering the amount of rather self-indulgent ad-libbing and cameos which PantSoc are known for. Admittedly, it would not be a York Uni panto without them. Nevertheless, if you are going to ask so much of the audiences’ patience, you cannot allow the pace to drop for a moment.
Having said all this, I think the best way to describe my experience of Snow White was that throughout the entire performance I was incredibly jealous. The amount of enthusiasm every single member of the cast brought to the production, the evident amount of fun they were having saying these preposterous lines and wearing those ridiculous costumes, means that you can’t help but want to be up there with them. If you want a family friendly experience, don’t go. If you want a serious play preformed by serious actors, go to the Drama Barn. If you want to leave after a show feeling happier than when you went in, then go. If you want to see a performance and a society that has no real comparison anywhere, go. If you want to see a man in drag defiantly go. Pantomime or Death!
Excellent stuff! Telepathy, by the way, is called Daniel Cornwell - think his name needs a mention, since he's the only unnamed character you've referenced.
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