Last Updated on 8 December 2024 by Colette
This post features gifted experiences
Maureen Nolan and Emrhys Cooper (you’ll know him as playing cult leader Rowan Cunliffe in Coronation Street) head the all-star line-up in this year’s St Helens Theatre Royal Christmas Panto: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Regal Entertainments Ltd has also enlisted the help of some very special local legends to voice the roles of the Dwarfs (they do not appear in person) – with the magnificent seven comprised of Johnny Vegas, Joel Ross, Pete Price, Philip Regan (Queen of Scotty Road), Craig Phillips, Louis Emerick and John May (all of those lending their voices are donating their fees to their chosen charities!)
We have watched and loved panto for years at St Helens Theatre Royal but this year I’d ended up double booking myself and, seeing as how not even the most powerful of Christmas magic can allow me to be in two places at once, I asked Michelle and Erin to go and review Snow White at St Helens Theatre Royal for me.
This wasn’t their first trip to St Helens Theatre Royal for the panto either as they came with us a couple of years ago to watch Cinderella.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at St Helens Theatre Royal – Review
Panto is definitely one of our favourite Christmas traditions and we try to make sure we see at least one every year. Erin and I saw our first pantomime at the Theatre Royal, St Helens two years ago and absolutely loved it, so we were delighted when Colette asked us to attend on her behalf this year to watch Snow White. I was excited to be able to take my sister and my niece this time as they have never seen a show here but love a panto as much as we do. When we first saw a Christmas panto at The Theatre Royal I loved that it felt much more intimate than some of the other theatres we would attend in Manchester so you feel like you are completely involved in the show. This was exactly the same feeling this year.
When we saw the pantomime in 2022 Lewis Devine was our favourite character, bringing that perfect cheeky chappy British humour you would expect in a pantomime with lots of jokes for the adults! This year he is back playing Muddles, the best friend of Snow White, who is madly in love but loses the princess to the handsome prince. Throughout the show he is absolutely non-stop with his energy and has the whole audience in stitches constantly. Again, he definitely made a lasting impression on us and we would love to see him again next year.
Not being soap fans, we weren’t aware of Emrhys Cooper from Coronation Street but he nailed the role of Prince Frederick perfectly. There were lots of nods to his character in the soap but nothing that impacted your enjoyment or understanding of the role without regularly watching him on screen. He rocked the slightly awkward shiny tights and cheesy lines perfectly and clearly was able to laugh at himself.
Richard Aucott as Nurse Nelly, was everything you would want in a traditional pantomime dame. Crazy costumes, cheeky one liner and jokes at the expense of the Wicked Queen were all delivered perfectly. One of our favourite parts in the show was the traditional ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ song and Nurse Nelly was a vital part in this scene.
The Seven Dwarfs are characters which I have seen portrayed in lots of different ways over the years with children, adults on their knees or puppets behind a screen. Yet again The Theatre Royal came up with a different approach again this year, using actors in morph suits with large puppets attached to them. Famous voice overs were used to deliver the voices of the dwarfs, Craig Phillips and Louis Emerick were our favourite with the strong Liverpudlian accents adding to the comedy.
Maureen Nolan played the ‘baddie’ well. She managed to get the audience on board quickly with plenty of booing and lots of the traditional panto to chants of ‘oh no you didn’t’. Obviously there was also an obligatory Nolan’s song thrown in for good measure and as a fan of any ‘cheesy’ music I was happy with that!Â
Driving home we were beaming and spent most of the journey talking about our favourite characters, funniest lines and singing the songs used in the show. We have watched pantomimes as a family since our children were tiny and I’m so glad it is still something they want to do with us. As they get older they understand more of the jokes (even if some make them cringe when they’re sat next to mum) but it just adds to our enjoyment of the whole show!
Spending the evening watching Snow White has definitely put us in the Christmas mood and we can’t wait to come back next year for Beauty and the Beast.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs runs at St Helens Theatre Royal until Sunday 12th January 2025 – book tickets online: www.sthelenstheatreroyal.com
Photo credits: David Munn Photography
Have a read of these posts next:
Christmas Theatre in Manchester this year
Our ultimate guide to Christmas!
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