Snow White

When two large men wearing screamingly loud dresses are upstaged by a swarm of 3D spiders, you have to hope it’s pantomime season.

Either that or you’ve wandered into a vivid kaleidoscopic dream that a drug-peddler would be proud of. The clue is in the kids shrieking around you in utter glee, fuelled by a frisson of fear as the eternal tale of Snow White enchants them.

Janice Honeyman has excelled herself in her 31st pantomime, a lavish affair stuffed with songs, jokes and gimmicks and a tight focus on the action that swings along wonderfully.

As the second half begins it’s a toss-up whether the most delightful aspect is Desmond Dube as the dame or Ben Voss vamping it up as the evil queen. But step back, boys, because the real show stopper is a journey through the wicked woods, with giant snakes, spiders and ghosts coming right at you as you don your 3D glasses. It’s spectacular – a more vivid 3D experience than I’ve seen in the cinema, and I reckon I shrieked as much as the little nippers.

Honeyman writes and directs the Joburg panto every year, and there’s no sense of jadedness or same-same in this version. It feels simpler, tidier, and more streamlined than some previous offerings, topped with added sparkle.

Dube is the best-ever panto find, instantly at home in his over-the-top outfit as Dame Dolla Dludlu. He’s charming, saucy and exuberant and keeps everything on track with a wink and a grin, and you can’t but help adore him.

Voss also brings polished professionalism as he snarls and struts as the evil queen, approachable but scary. He’s magnificent and in full command, spraying the audience with water or cackling and cracking jokes when he morphs into a peasant woman tempting Snow White with a poisoned apple.

The script endlessly bursts into bright songs that are current enough for the kids to know, while some snatches of the classics strike a chord with the adults. Nicol Sheraton’s choreography is consistently funky and fun, with some exciting dancing by the background crew.

The costumes and sets brought in from panto experts in the UK are simply superb. Lashings of glitter, towering turrets, deep dark woods and a two-storey shack for the seven dwarves create a fairytale world that's utterly magical.

Then there are the gimmicks – maybe a touch too many of them, as if some spare parts from other shows got mingled in with the props backstage and worked their way in anyhow. There’s a brief incongruous scene with everyone wearing sharp suits, then a short ice skating session, before the dwarfs arrive in the forest in hot air balloons – don’t let your brain even think about those impracticalities. Then they turn up on seven scooters. Layer upon layer of magical madness.

The seven dwarfs are a convincing crew, with Grumpy (Emil Haarhoff) doing all his discontented chuntering in an Afrikaans accent. Nice one, Janice! Oh, there are sneaky depths of social commentary to be explored in here.

I almost forgot John Robbie, the much-vaunted and now retired radio talk show host and rugger-bugger, making his panto debut as Major-Dumb-Ou. He throws himself into it but he’s clearly not on home turf, and on opening night there was a woodenness about his actions followed by palpable relief as he made it through. Honeyman has given him several rugby jokes to work with, so there’s lots of material to grow into.

This is a real ensemble production, with Snow White and Prince Charming no more important than the rest of the cast. Kiruna-Lind Devar makes a lovely Snow White with her fresh face and pretty voice, while Tshepo Ncokoane as the Prince brings a very welcome Africanacity to the production. There’s a touch of the Lion King about his entrance, and the script is richly peppered with lekker local references.

The jokes come on two levels, with quick quips and double-entendres to keep the adults aurally entertained, but the level of sophistication in the entire production holds us spellbound anyway.

Snow White runs at Joburg Theatre until December 23. Tickets from www.joburgtheatre.com or on 0861 670 670.

Photos by enroC Photos.