In our first visit to Freshwater Memorial Hall, we were greeted by a wonderful community venue which had been fully prepped for a Christmas Panto feast! Frosty turrets adorned the stage and we were glad we had arrived in plenty of time to grab some good seats with a great view of the stage. This performance along with all of the others were completely sold out!

Perusing the glossy and well designed programme, it was clear that the New Strolling Players were ready to present an energetic and comedic performance full of all of Pantoland’s signature ingredients or indeed maybe a box of ‘greedy-ants’? This was The New Strolling Players 50th Anniversary Panto and the community spirit of this theatre group could be seen even before the play started with a mini treasure hunt accumulating in one lucky winner choosing a very sizeable charity donation; how wonderfully Christmas spirited!

Now, let the snow begin… sorry we mean show! We are introduced to the village of ‘Ikea’ where good friends Kay and Gerda live. This village however, has a dark and sorrowful secret, all of the men have been stolen away by a mysterious Snow Queen! The classic tale of the Snow Queen has had a few updates and twists in this funny and farcical version but essentially it still revolves around brave Gerda’s quest to save her friend Kay from the icy clutches of the villainous Snow Queen. After magic mirror shards corrupt his sight, making him spout cruel comments to friends and family, he is whisked away by aforementioned baddy to her ice palace. Gerda must journey to the North to save her dear friend from his Icy fate, aided by Granny Rose and Handy Annie. Finally reaching the palace to save her friend, they prove love and friendship conquer evil. Also, thankfully all of the wonderfully ‘helpless’ male characters are returned to their families upon ‘completion’ of their individual quests.

Thomas Dangerfield, who played Kay, and Bea Homes, portraying Gerda, were both loveable in their roles and should be commended for their energy and commitment. They both managed to show great stamina for a run of five performances of a lengthy panto. They should be very proud of their efforts here and were rightfully rewarded by this jolly audience with a heart-felt round of applause and a warm cheer.

What pantomime is complete without a dame you ask? Well, Lewis Pavey as Granny Rose gave us this role in ‘damesque’ bucket loads! He gave a sparkling performance in many respects; bawdy one liners, dazzling outfits, slapstick comedy and cheeky audience interaction! Both Granny Rose and Handy Annie, played ably by Chantal Eagles, gave these reviewers one of our favourite comic moments of the show! A cleverly planned and executed call-and-respose comedy skit in Annie’s shop, brought many laughs with their paint related make-up and sandpaper facial jibes!

Now on to the rest of the panto crew! The namesake character of the The Snow Queen was played with great tenacity by Peri Ryan, and she definitely scared her two henchmen witless! Jack Frost was played by Rowanna Earle-Payne, a loyal and somewhat successful henchman, who becomes exasperated by a new incompetent apprentice, Snowbell, played by Cheryl May. The audience revelled in Snowbell’s inability to be truly wicked whilst inadvertently thwarting Jack and the queen’s evil plans. This naughty trio gave good foil to the range of ‘goodies’ on stage!

Opposing this dastardly bunch was the Summer Queen, Izy Bishop and her sweet Summer Fairy played by Ava Simpkins. Izy gave a delightful ballet performance to the Frozen 2 Classic ‘All is Found’ capably supported by Eden Burton, Esme Maloney, Rosie Dunleavey and Summer Plumbley.

Trapped inside the snow queen’s evil abode with Kay were a range of other unfortunate male characters. The Mayor ( Deana Turnbull) and Grandfather (Michael Dangerfield) struggled to complete the Snow Queen’s given challenges with only wholly jumpers and shoddy pies to show for their efforts! Deana brought strong dialogue and a great sense of pompous leadership to the role. Michael provided great energy and drive to the moments in which he appeared; his singing, movement and messy antics were all very much enjoyed!

The heart of any panto is its ensemble and in this case the child chorus was committed and skillfully used to provide impact in whole group dance numbers and village scenes. The adult chorus also played varying roles that added to the scenes of village life and gave depth to the performance.

Whilst this pantomime was extremely well received in this well-suited venue, as with some other productions, the pace of some scenes dropped leading to some lengthy pauses and slow dialogue. This may have been helped with some skillful editing of the script; at a runtime of two hours and forty-five minutes, including a twenty minute interval, it was definitely value for money but did leave some of the younger audience members quite restless towards the end.

The Snow Queen was a successful community show with a pinch of popular culture, a dash of double entendres, a sprinkle of slapstick and a whole lot of panto fun. Congratulations to cast, crew and creatives for the sell-out run!