Snow White Pantomime At Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall Review

Reviewed by Amanda Hayes

If you are looking for a fun and festive theatre trip suitable for all ages head along to the Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall where Snow White is on stage, twice a day, from Friday 17th Dec right round until Monday 3rd Jan 2022.

Written by Paul Hendy and produced by his team at Evolution Productions, winners of Pantomime of The Year in 2016/17 and 2017/18, you are guaranteed a great time.

Shirley Ballas, Head Judge of Strictly Come Dancing, plays the brilliant Wicked Queen, with virtual guest appearances from Michael Palin as the famous magic mirror!

When the wicked queen asks the magic mirror, Mirror Mirror on the Wall, the mirror declares Snow White, played by Rhiannon Chesterman, to be the fairest of them all. On hearing this, the wicked queen sets out to kill Snow White, culminating in a fabulous mixture of beautiful love scenes, hilarious comedy routines and upbeat dance performances. This is a show you won’t get bored watching. The two funny men, Pantomime Dame, Nurse Nellie played by musical performer Leon Craig and the Queens valet, Herman, performed by theatre star, Cameron Blakely, play hilarious parts both together and apart, with Herman’s dreams, becoming an integral part of the script. Damian Patton plays Snow Whites best friend Muddles in his 15th Pantomime in a row, and his experience shows, he is full of enthusiasm and ensures plenty of audience participation, really get the crowd going.

Harrison Wilde plays a fabulous Prince Charming, really looking the part and with a delightful singing voice steals several scenes as do the amazing seven dwarves, Sarge, Groover, Loopy, Sniffly, Cheeky, Striker and Dave!

The traditional Snow White story is interspersed with singing, dancing, jokes and audience participation and a lot of the songs current pop songs adapted to fit the story. The scenery is excellent and with a plethora of set changes and costume changes the pantomime is fast moving, great to keep children interested. In between set changes Muddles kept everyone entertained with an audience sing along, getting everyone up out of their seats. The tradition of picking a person out from the audience to be ridiculed continues, with one family’s Dad, ****** (editor’s note – name removed), being singled out by Nurse Nelly to be her boyfriend. Sit near the front at your peril!. It was all done in the best of humour though and no one was made to feel uncomfortable.

The highlight of the evening for our eight old, and it seemed the entire audience, was the Herman/Freddie Mercury set near the end of the show. Everyone was singing and clapping along making for a brilliantly upbeat second half. There were many other highlights so I recommend you try and get tickets for Snow White if you can. Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall has been used as an entertainment venue since 1939 but has been brought right up to the 21st Century with a recent facelift. It has easy access for wheelchairs and a lift for the less mobile together with a ground floor bar and plenty of parking in the multi storey right next door.

We watched the 5pm showing which was perfect for our age group but there are also lunchtime and evening performances, so something to suit everybody, making a great afternoon or evening out for all of the family.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Tickets Cost from Adults £29.50 to £45.00 Children £19.50 to £35

For more information or to book tickets visit https://www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk/whats-on/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs
Assembly Hall Theatre, Crescent Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2LU
Ticket Sales Tel: 01892 530613