Snow White gets Panto treatment
East Vancouver artists take another fairy tale to hilarious and unexpected places
Five years ago, a group of East Vancouver-based artists had an idea: What if they mounted a traditional English-style holiday pantomime but took it to a decidedly Left Coast level?
Theatre Replacement saw an opportunity to tie this concept in with its mission statement to make work that was about, and involved with, the community. The Cultch was involved as well, as the venue has been a cultural focus for the neighbourhood for more than four decades.
The East Van Panto was born with Jack and the Beanstalk in 2013.
Since then, the annual event has taken the classical English model — turning a fairy tale insideout with local references, zany asides, plenty of ridiculous musical numbers, and considerable audience participation — to new levels of success.
Last year’s production of Little Red Riding Hood was the best-selling show in Cultch history.
This 2017-18 season, the panto crew brings a version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Written by Mark Chavez, the show is directed by Anita Rochon, with music and lyrics from Veda Hille.
Allan Zinyk, Ming Hudson, Chirag Naik and Amy Rutherford all star in the show which has Snow White on the run from her evil stepmother in West Van, hiding out in the PNE with a band of recently renovicted dwarves.
Rochon and Chavez discussed the concept and storyline for the production with Postmedia News. It took some work to avoid including spoilers.
QIn the original tale, Snow White’s evil stepmother practises dark arts and deceit. What is her major issue in your panto?
ARochon: “She’s a fitness queen, obsessed with looks and — as with the fairy tale — when she finds out that she isn’t the fairest of the land, it spells serious trouble for Snow White.”
The bar has been set incredibly high for these shows. How do you put one of these together with a whole new serving of wacky hijinks that appeal to adults and children alike?
Rochon: “Mark and I talk a lot about what needs to be said, what needs to be shown, and how to make it the most effective. His writing is great like a Tennessee Williams work, with all these long, hilarious stage directions which do a lot of the work for me. And, yes, we are always looking for what is the most outrageous and most Vancouver-specific thing we can do at whatever moment in the story we are at.”
Every panto at some point winds up being something of a hero’s quest. How do you take a story that might not be that type of tale and make it into one that is?
Chavez: “Last year’s Little Red Riding Hood was pretty clearly laid out because the journey is a lot of the story so we could just plug things into that plot. The journey in Snow White isn’t so straight ahead as it has a lot of fairly questionable moral issues — such as the hunter doesn’t kill her only because she’s pretty — and a central theme of a parent who keeps trying to murder you. Frankly, I’m pretty surprised by how much fun we found in that level of darkness.”
Are you surprised by the constant growth in popularity of the East Van Panto and is it a big challenge to keep coming up with winning stories?
Chavez: “When they gave me the keys last year, it was terrifying and there was a lot of pressure. The previous year’s writer, Charlie (Demers), is a political comedian used to inserting a lot of current affairs into his work. I come from a completely different background in the absurd — building weird characters and stories — but Little Red Riding Hood was the best-selling show in Cultch history so I am not that worried about a second record slump.”
The promotional write-up mentions that Snow White dances with Superdogs at the PNE. Does this mean you have animals in the show for the first time?
Rochon: There will be no animals in this show. There may be some interesting transformations, but I don’t really want to give away too much more. As ever, there is only so much of the story to share because you want to leave the audience surprised, and laughing.”