www.wrington.net It's the time of year when tinsel and turkey are but fading memories, the cold has begun to bite, and we all look for something to bring us a little touch of cheer amid the post-Christmas gloom. And what better than that most quintessentially English of theatrical delights, the pantomime? Sweet love-birds, a cracking villain (or as in this case, villainess), lots of audience participation, performing children, traditional casting, music, laughter, innuendo, local allusions and running gags are de rigeur. And in the Wrington Drama Club's latest offering of 'The Story of Snow White', directed by Fred Cowgill, we're given the lot. Lovebirds first, then - I was astounded to learn of the youth of the Principal Girl and Principal Boy, as April Kirby and Georgie Agar delivered such confident, polished performances as Snow White and Prince Jamie of Bedminster. First place in the cracking villainess stakes must go to Alienora Taylor, whose beautifully malevolent performance as the Wicked Queen was top notch, although somewhat disturbingly reminiscent of our last female Prime Minister. One could perfectly understand why Peter Jones' King Stanley wore such a permanently hen-pecked expression. The comedy duo was expertly provided by Simon Medd, as the endearingly simple Wally Wimpole, a 'Where's Wally' look-alike, and Michael Berkley as the classic pantomime dame Mavis Goodbody. In pantomime there is often a fine line between innuendo and coarseness; it was a pleasure to see Michael deliver such a sure-footed performance. Mavis and Wally. Of course, no tale of Snow White would be complete without the seven dwarfs, played with great competence and excellent timing by Jim Swords, Rebecca Bryce, Julie Kirby, William Maitland-Round, Sam Sprouting, George Blundell, Molly Sprouting, Jacob Brean, Lorna Perry and Archie Howell (Yes, I know that makes ten, but the last six took turns to play the three smallest dwarfs). The story of Snow White has many elements and can be a little difficult to cover on stage, so the introduction of a device to keep the storyline flowing was most welcome. Mark Halper as Oddjob the Narrator provided the glue which held the whole thing together; with charm and bonhomie he succeeded in establishing a great relationship with the audience. The tale was helped along by an adult chorus, and also a myriad of fine young performers from the Wrington Youth Drama, directed by Julie Kingcott. Musical direction was ably provided by Paul Martin, who also played the keyboards. He was assisted by James Kilminster on clarinet and saxophone, and by Luke Graham on guitar. All of the above contrived to deliver a truly wonderful evening of traditional fun, in which we, the audience, were lifted out of our post-Christmas doldrums to sing, heckle, hiss, boo, shout warnings, catch sweets and generally over-indulge ourselves theatrically. "Oh no, we didn't! Oh yes, we did!" Thank you, to every single person who worked on this production (and I apologise if I haven't mentioned you all by name as there were so many of you), from cast and crew to programme sellers and refreshment staff. Together, you all helped bring about an evening which will live long in the memory, like all good pantomimes should. Well done. DWC