The Florians' panto Snow White includes wide age range
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There is nothing as traditional as panto – apart from maybe this year’s Snow White from The Florians.
Things are a little bit different this year, as director Morag Russell makes a few tweaks that update and freshen up some of the ideas at the heart of panto.
“The last couple of years with Covid meant not being able to do pantomime – though we did do the Junior Florians’ panto last year,” said Morag.
“For our first full club panto, I wanted to do a traditional panto and having run the juniors for several years, I really wanted one where they would be guaranteed some good parts. So with the seven dwarves, Snow White felt like an obvious choice.”
This is Morag’s first time directing adults along with the juniors.
“They have been brilliant and we have 18 juniors taking part this year. But it’s nice now to have the whole club together with that time to work together on something and feel part of something bigger. It’s been really exciting being able to champion that unity in the club,” Morag said.
What have been the differences getting a cast of adults and youngsters ready to perform?
“I almost found it a little easier with the adults – it’s a similar scale but I’m used to directing large casts with the juniors. And I’ve also been able to bring in eight new members into the pantomime.
“Folk are excited to be out of Covid and trying something new. We have a few who have been longstanding members in the club but haven’t done a panto before but were really keen to try something new, so I’ve got a real range and wealth of experience – and lots of new people as well which has just been lovely to welcome them.”
One of the big changes this year, is bringing in a new writer.
Morag laughed: “I went a bit rogue this year and contacted a writer who is a talented local comedian called Kieran Lochore. I approached him a couple of years ago and asked if he had ever considered writing a panto before and he said ‘No, not till this very second!’. We would meet up occasionally to make sure we had all the key panto ingredients.
“I’d said to him it would be great if we could bring panto into the 21st century a little bit and make sure Snow White can look after herself. I wanted to be a bit more aware of what we are reading into fairy tales.
"Snow White doesn’t just need to be kissed by a prince once and wake up and everything is right with the world – she can look after herself!
"We have Prince Harmless this year, rather than Prince Charming. But it’s been lovely to advocate for little girls – they can look after themselves, they don’t just have to wait for Prince Charming coming along.”
There are plenty of the traditional charms of panto to be found in Snow White.
Morag said: "We do still have a dame, just somebody who lives in the castle of Snow White and the king.
"They’ve all been busy throwing Snow White’s birthday party for her 18th and we’ve still got our village idiots and our jester.
"We’ve also got a couple of other princes and they think they are the prince charmings.
"We’ve got a big party scene and we’ve tried to hone in Scottish traditions and culture, so we’ve got a big ceilidh in the middle of it. And we’ve got all the local references as well.
"Our dwarves are actually called the seven drams this year and are named after whiskies!"
As ever with a Florians' production, the props are sometimes stories in themselves. But Morag has had some special help this year on the technical side.
"I've been lucky this year to have some family involvement. My mum Janet is doing the props for us and my dad David’s on the sound desk and my granny’s been helping out with the costumes as well which is brilliant.
"When I was younger and I first joined the Florians in 2006, my folks got involved the year after to help out with some backstage things, it was really nice.
"It used to be a big family thing when we were younger and to be able to do that again has been really exciting – my sister’s doing the programme!"
And the good news for Morag and the team is, tickets are all but gone as the director had hoped when we spoke!
Morag said: “We’re hoping we’ll have a completely sold out production which would be really brilliant.”
Full line-up of those taking part, from behind the scenes to performers, The Florian's Snow White:
Written by: Kieran J E Lochore
Show dates: From Friday, December 9-17 @7.30pm (no Sunday show), additional matinee each Saturday @2.30pm. Currently sold out but keep an eye on the website for tickets back on sale. https://www.florians.org.uk/
Cast list in order of appearance
Jackie the Jester - TJ Cameron
King Howard - Donald Kennedy
Dame Bertha - Simon Lyall/ Darren McMillan
To-Do - Maddison Cameron
Ta-Da - Evie Donnelly
Snow White - Lauren Walker
Evil Queen - Alison Ożóg
Fairy Godmother - Lisa Senior
Huntsman - Luna Rose
Mirror - Matthias Kremer
Prince Davey - Sebastian Robertson
Prince Norman - Michael O'Neill
Prince Harmless - Lawrence Robins-Bird
Dwarfs:
Morangie - Jess Davidson
Livet - Erin Scott
Dronach - Maisie Martin
Fiddich - Adam Bodie
Coe - Alex Loynd
Moray - Molly Douglas
Rothes - Niamh Monaghon
Forest creatures:
Jeff the Mouse - Anne Bamborough
Bubba the Bunny - Polly Newell /Lucy Boyd
Olive the Owl - Lucy Hayes/ Florrie MacLennan
Cyril the Squirrel - Scarlett Newell/ Scarlett Chisholm
Chorus/forest creatures:
Hope Eley Whitson, Eileen Barr, Brian Howlett, Martha Brown, Megan Rodgers
Crew:
Director - Morag Russell
Assisted by - Vicky MacRae
Choreographer - Alan Banner
Musical Director - Heidi Gordon
Lights - Eddie Docherty
Sound- David Russell
Props - Janet Russell
Costumes - Margaret Scoular
Set design - Rhiannon Alexander.
Snow White is at the Florians Theatre, Bught Park, Friday, December 9-17. Tickets, only returns: florians.org.uk
