It’s Snow White, Jim, but not as we know it.
Halfway across the galaxy, Captain Flo White, daughter Snow White and their crew search for new comic routines aboard the S.S. Pantoprise. Jealously regarded by the Great Hingeroan, Snow White’s incongruously related Stepmother, the cheerful bunch flees between scenes, ripping to shreds the spotted fabric of pantomime.
This is pantomime for the theatrically minded. Taking a pop at The King’s, John Barrowman and devoting a romantic ballad to So Shy, a mute understudy abducted from The Pavilion’s matinee of Aladdin, Fletcher Matthews‘s wry yet indulgent script continues The Tron’s tradition of pantomimes more about pantomimes than fairy tales.
In Minnie Mouse ears, Sally Reid‘s excellent Snow White ironically inanimate creatures and lampoons the Disney princess mould. As Wicked Stepmother Hingeroan, Anita Vettesse angles between Sleeping Beauty’s Malecifent and Toy Story’s Emperor Zurg, comic enough to get caught up amongst the fun without losing her mean streak.
Darren Brownlie‘s Mr. Brockie is a highlight, a robotic dame with the camp of C3PO and the pep of a fully charged iPod. Bouncing into the auditorium, Brownlie and the cast make this the most intimate show in town, welcoming audiences to hug their teddy bear and join them for a game of bingo.
Having been involved with ten of the Tron’s happily absurd and postmodern Christmas shows, Gordon Dougall is taking his final bows and passing on the foam pies and custard to a new director.
Captain Dougall is going down with a very good space ship.
