The Old Savoy is a delightful Art Deco venue independently owned and deserves the support of its local community in Northampton. For this year’s Pantomime that support is secured by the inclusion of four teams of Junior Ensemble who must surely bring in huge friends and family audiences to see them. What is more is that this Junior Ensemble made the visit worthwhile as they are wonderful throughout. The four teams consist of seven dancers, six gymnasts and seven as the non-discriminatory modern interpretation of Disney’s Seven Dwarfs. Indeed, although they do project an image of Snow White from that cartoon over the proscenium at the start, this version could not be further from that famous film in its style.
The Super Seven are Diddy, Sussy, Sassy, Freaky, Windy, Wokey and the Guvnor but it is Wokey that keeps popping up to keep the show modern and on track. Her clever and very clearly enunciated interruptions seem to both highlight current politically correct statements while at the same time gently poking fun at them, keeping both sides of the debate satisfied! She explains that they “don’t believe that people should be given labels or named after physical attributes”, although Windy regularly reminds us of why she is so named. She says their names are “only acceptable because we say so”. When the Prince finally arrives to awaken the sleeping Snow White Wokey steps forward to stop him giving her a “non-consensual kiss” but then follows up when she is awake with a “fill your boots son”.
