Snow White: the Cheerios Pantoat Liberty Hall, Dublin and Can You Catch a Mermaid?at Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire are reviewed by Irish Timeswriters
Snow White: the Cheerios Panto at Liberty Hall, Dublin
I'd challenge even the most curmudgeonly Grinch to go to this panto and not come out grinning from ear to ear. How could a panto fail when it has Joe Conlan as the Dame? If you could bottle the feelgood factor that pumps off the stage every time he, as "tanx a thousand" Buffy, totters on, all spangly high heels and fluorescent wig, you'd make a fortune. Once again Karl Broderick and Alan Hughes have produced a traditional Dublin panto that's all about fun, where everything, from the tunes borrowed from Hairspray to the daft gags, is designed to get the crowd going.
There is plenty of scope in the Snow White fairytale for over- the-top stage business. The wicked queen (or here, Queen Malaria) is played with zest by Linda Martin, relishing the chance to be mean to Snow White (Michele McGrath, adding a bit of bite to what is usually a saccharine-filled role). Her prince is Kyle Kennedy, and these three characters, who all have fine singing voices, form the show's strong musical core.
To make a panto of the fairytale, there's the queen's servant, Sammy Sausages (Alan Hughes), who, together with Buffy, moves the action along at a fair clip and gets every last laugh from each gag - even those that on opening night went a bit awry. Hughes has a real talent for engaging the audience, or "the boys and girls" and, in this small theatre, where the children aren't too far from the stage, that makes the evening special.
The staging, including the set design, is more polished and professional than in other years.
When Snow White is banished to the woods, the seven dwarfs she meets are elaborate puppets, which delighted the tiny members of the audience, and the mirror on the wall is a slightly sinister- voiced man, a spooky effect enhanced by Darren Kelleher's atmospheric lighting design.
Florrie O'Brien, as costume designer, perfectly balances the fairytale element in the main part of the story with Buffy's exuberant showiness.
The dancers, from the grown-up professionals to the junior dance corps made up of children from stage schools, work brilliantly together.
A small disappointment is that the script didn't include the topical references and political sideswipes that are a traditional part of panto, but that's a quibble given the high-octane level of fun on offer.
This Snow White is a proper sort of panto, where the audience really does get to laugh, sing along and regularly holler "look behind you" and "oh yes he did". What more would you want? Runs until January 20th Bernice Harrison
Can You Catch a Mermaid? at Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire
Sometimes it's the Christmas shows in the smaller theatres that leave a greater impression on children than the razzmatazz of the pantomimes. And so it will be, I suspect, with this season's show in the Pavilion Theatre.
The Pavilion's director, Martin Murphy, has wonderfully adapted Can You Catch a Mermaid?,illustrator/author Jane Ray's beautiful story about a little girl, Eliza (Jessica Kennedy), who finds a new friend on the seashore where she plays while her fisherman father (a stoic Damien Devaney) is at sea.
Right from the start, the narrator (an enthusiastic Bryan Burroughs) invites the audience to join in the life of a fishing village, pulling in imaginary ropes and nets and selling fish in the market. Seating on both sides of the cleverly designed stage enhances this involvement.
We witness Eliza's loneliness and then later her absolute joy when she befriends the mysterious Freya (the mermaid's ephemeral qualities are splendidly captured by Megan Kennedy). Therein follows some beautifully choreographed scenes as the girls play games on the sand and swim in the sea (imaginatively portrayed through acrobatic moves on ropes hanging centre-stage).
However, Freya becomes restless on land and the Queen of the Sea (Ruth McGill's haunting singing and striking costume were simply superb) sends storms to remind her daughter that she must return to the water. Before she can go home, though, she must find the magical mirror she has lost on the beach. The audience join in the search and when Eliza finds it, she is slow to let her friend go, yet she realises that if she doesn't the storms will continue and no fishing boats will be able to go out to sea.
In a hypnotic scene, the Queen of the Sea emerges again to carry her daughter home. The next day, the calm waters return, the fishermen come home with full nets and Eliza makes new friends on the seashore.
Before sending us all out into the cold sea air of Dún Laoghaire, the cast invites the audience to join in a fishing song - a heartwarming ending to a perfectly pitched show for four- to 10-year-olds who don't need to be reminded it's Christmas at every turn. Runs until January 6th Sylvia Thompson
