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Photographer: Freia Turland

The stars of 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 

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Stars of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs look forward to this year’s pantomime season at the Theatre Royal 

Panto season is with us and one of the fairest of them all is appearing in Bath as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs returns to the Theatre Royal. And Damian Sandys, Artistic Producer for UK Productions, promises: "It's fantastic family fun, with a really juicy story, brilliant comedy and an absolute knock-out cast."

The fairy tale is among the most beloved panto subjects of all time. "And that's because it's got a great moral base to it," Damian explains. "It says that superficial beauty isn't everything and it's much better to be kind and generous. That theme has a timeless quality to it. Then there's the sense of danger within it, which really draws the audience in. It has a fabulous sense of jeopardy alongside all the fun and comedy."

The perfect festive treat for the whole family, Snow White runs at the Theatre Royal from Thursday 12th December to Sunday 12th January. Children's TV presenter Olivia Birchenough stars in the title role alongside panto legend Jon Monie as Muddles, fellow panto devotee and EastEnders actor Nick Wilton as Dame Dilly Donut, George Olney as the Prince and Emma Norman as the Wicked Queen. Completing the cast are the seven actors playing the dwarfs, the ensemble and talented young dancers from Bath’s Dorothy Coleborn School of Dance.

Monie is also on writing duties as per tradition, with his script offering a new spin on the much-loved seasonal story about a princess trying to flee the clutches of her evil step-mother with the help of her friends the seven dwarfs, a delicious Dame, her hilarious son and a handsome Prince, who all come to Snow White’s rescue.

 

Not that Snow White here is the typical damsel in distress. This is Olivia's fourth time playing the role. "And she's been brought forward since I last played her a few years ago," she smiles, "which is great because it's 2024 and she needs to be a bit more feisty. We've got a responsibility to show young girls that princesses do not need to just be kissed by a prince to make everything better. We're showing them that girls can stand on their own two feet."

Birchenough has presented Milkshake! on Channel 5 for the last 12 years, but she's also a pantomime regular whose credits include Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty as well as three previous productions of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Panto, she notes, is often young people's first introduction to theatre. "And there's something so special about that. It's about capturing their imagination and showing that theatre and art can be a place where there are serious messages amidst a whole lot of fun. Panto works on two levels, so there's lots for adults to enjoy too."

How does being on stage compare to her day job as a TV presenter? "I love doing telly but I trained in musical theatre and you can't beat that instant reaction from an audience," says the woman who was crowned Best Leading Female at both The Great British Pantomime Awards and The Panto Insider Awards in 2017.

 

Having toured to Bath with the Milkshake! live shows, she adds: "This is my first time doing panto here and I'm really excited to be in Bath at Christmas because I've heard how magical it is over the festive period. I can't wait to visit the Spa and do some exploring, and I've got a niece and nephew who'll be coming to see the show. They've already got their Prince and Snow White outfits ready!"

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Emma Norman as Wicked Queen and Olivia Birchenough as Sn
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Emma Norman as Wicked Queen and Jon Monie as Muddles - P

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs follows last year's smash hit Sleeping Beauty at the Theatre Royal, which has been putting on pantos for more than 200 years. In November 1815, a decade after the venue opened, famous entertainer Joseph Grimaldi played the clown in Mother Goose. Then Reg Maddox took over management of the theatre in 1937 for a four-decade tenure, during which he and his family really put Bath on the panto map.

    

Presented by UK Productions, this year's show is filled to bursting with comedy, stunning dance routines, beautiful costumes and, of course, lots of audience participation in an extravaganza that is guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages - soundtracked by contemporary pop songs and classic tunes.

Bath-born Jon Monie has a record-breaking 1,150-plus performances to his name and this year he's back by popular demand for his 22nd Christmas show at the Theatre Royal. Asked what keeps bringing him back for more, he beams: "It's enormous fun. It's not Shakespeare, it's not Hamlet, so there is room to breathe and to have fun with it. Audiences really enjoy their pantomime in Bath and we're here to fulfil their Christmas wishes on that front."

    

This time round he's playing Muddles, who is Dame Dilly Donut's son and an odd job man at the Wicked Queen's palace. "None odder, in fact," Jon laughs.  "He makes a right mess of things and tends to get everything horribly wrong." 

Monie describes his take on Snow White as "a really strong, traditional family pantomime, where the story is key". He's modernised some elements and given the Wicked Queen a backstory to explain why she is the way she is, elaborating: "She is desperate to maintain her beauty and she wants to get her hands on the Prince's diamond mine so she can afford endless plastic surgery to stay youthful forever. When Snow White is on the scene and is a natural beauty, she seethes with rage and jealousy, but Snow White is not a wallflower waiting for a Prince to come to save the day. She is very much independent and in charge of her own destiny."

Monie's television credits include Bridgerton, The Nevers, Moominvalley, The Outlaws and Showtrial. The award-winning writer, actor, presenter and comedian also regularly performs with improvisational comedy group Instant Wit and this spring he starred as Joseph Grimaldi in the world premiere production of Slapstick! at Bath's Old Theatre Royal.

But pantomime is his first love. "It's such ridiculous fun," he gushes. "You've got a prince and a princess falling in love at the drop of a hat, men dressed as women and women dressed as men, custard pies and all sorts of nonsense. But the story has to be truthful and if you've got a good story then people are engaged from the off."

Nick Wilton has become another fixture of Bath's panto season, having previously appeared at the Theatre Royal in Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as playing Nursie in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 2017.

This year he's Dame Dilly Donut, elaborating: "Normally the Dame is Snow White's nanny but this time she's the Queen's assistant. She's very caring and she's the long-suffering mother of Muddles. He is pretty useless and he drives his mother mad, but their banter is loveable."

'Children's TV presenter Olivia Birchenough stars in the title role alongside panto legend Jon Monie as Muddles, fellow panto devotee and EastEnders actor Nick Wilton as Dame Dilly Donut'

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Brian Wheeler, Emma Norman, Harrison Taylor, George Olne

Best-known as Market Inspector Mr Lister in EastEnders, Nick's other screen credits include Dreamland, Heartbeat, Doc Martin, The Bill and the children’s shows Jackanory and Big Meg, Little Meg. But there's nothing like a Dame for the actor, who says: "You get to do a bit of singing and dancing, you do sketches and routines, and you also play a character."

As for working again with Jon Monie, Wilton smiles affectionately: "We've established a great relationship over the years and it works really well. It is a joy working with him, although he gets ruder and ruder about me every year! More and more jokes go in at my expense but I don't mind that."

    

Stage star George Olney plays the Prince, of whom he says: "He is a bit of a hopeless romantic. He's honest and he's humble but he's always bumping into things. The idea of a hyper-masculine alpha male Prince is a little bit outdated, so I like the fact that he's a bit of a buffoon but a loveable one."

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - George Olney as Prince and Olivia Birchenough as Snow Wh

George got the acting bug from seeing local pantos, then being in them as a kid. "So they've always been a big part of my life," says the actor who previously starred in Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Aladdin. "I love the fact that they don't take themselves too seriously and I love the fact that you become this little family with the cast and crew over Christmas. For me nothing feels more Christmassy than doing panto."

Olney's other theatre credits include Mamma Mia! and Fiddler on the Roof in the West End, and he's toured with the likes of Chicago, Saturday Night Fever and Grease. This marks his first appearance at the Theatre Royal, though, and he's excited by the prospect. "I've been here on a stag do before but that's as far as it goes," he grins, "so I'm looking forward to exploring more of the place. And the Theatre Royal is absolutely gorgeous. Looking out at the auditorium from the stage, I'm pinching myself."

After her triumphant turn as the evil Carabosse in last season's Sleeping Beauty, Emma Norman returns to the Theatre Royal to play the Wicked Queen. "It's a dream come true," she says of being back this year. "It's the most beautiful place to spend Christmas and the audiences are brilliant. There are packed houses for every performance and it's lovely when parents bring their children to the stage door to say hello after a show."

 

Emma has appeared on stage in Doctor Zhivago, Whitney: Queen Of The Night and Tina: What’s Love Got To Do With It. She especially loves playing pantomime villainesses, saying: "I get to stomp around and shout at people, which in my daily life I don't get to do much of! At Bath I'm surrounded by just the nicest team of people. I'm so thrilled to be back on stage with Jon and Nick from last year and the same backstage team. It's like coming home."

 

Presumably she doesn't mind getting booed by the audience? "I love getting booed by the audience because it means you're doing a good job." What about being cast again as an evil character? Emma laughs. "I don't know what it says about me but I love being the baddie. It's lots of fun."

Among the actors playing the Seven Dwarfs are Brian Wheeler and Harrison Taylor. The former is a pantomime veteran, with an incredible 44 seasons under his belt, but he's another Theatre Royal first-timer, saying: "It's in such a nice part of the country and I'm especially looking forward to the Christmas markets. And doing panto is a joy. They're brilliant shows for the kids and for the adults too, and they bring in a lot of people who don't normally come to the theatre."

Brian has numerous film and TV credits on his resumé but he's drawn to panto because: "The camaraderie on stage is like no other show because everybody's here for Christmas and we all get on so well. And not to be controversial but I think it's important that the dwarfs are played by people with dwarfism. It's important to have that representation."

Harrison agrees. "A lot of youngsters won't have seen people like us, people with dwarfism, represented on stage. I feel as though with this panto we can show kids that we are capable of doing anything really."

    

Despite acting from the age of seven, Taylor didn't make his professional panto debut until he appeared in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in Aylesbury last year. "I wanted to give it a go and I thoroughly enjoyed it," he recalls. "I hear the audiences in Bath are amazing and it's the audience who make a show like this. I just have to remind myself not to laugh when they're all laughing at the antics on stage!"

 

The pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 12th December to Sunday 12th January. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at theatreroyal.org.uk

 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is sponsored by Bath Carpets and Flooring and Monahans Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors.    

 

Interview by Simon Button

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