Snow-white and the seven dwarfs is a fictional story about a princess who was exiled by her stepmother. She then forms a friendship with seven dwarfs who protect and rescue her from being killed by her stepmother, who is also known as queen malevolent. In this pantomime, I will be playing the voiceover, the use of voice is very important in theatre and panto as it allows performers to communicate through speech and song. Generally, in panto you have to use quite a bit of audience interaction making it more enjoyable, fun and interactive . Actors would naturally communicate through body expression, facial expression and imagination and make their moments as dramatic as possible. Many people think pantomime is quite an early invention, however it has evolved from quite a few hundred years ago. When looking into the origins of pantomime, most people look at the Italian commedia dell’arte, which was introduced in the sixteenth century. It was a form of outdoor theatre with performers and actors playing stock and masked characters. Their performances were full of acrobatics, music, dance, slapstick style comedy, all of which are familiar aspects of todays pantomimes. A lot of people enjoy snow-white, however one person had stated ‘For all its historical importance, snow-white and the seven dwarfs is not treated well by most Disney fans. It is tolerated but not respected or loved’ whilst another person stated ‘There are just somethings you can’t beat and Disney’s version of snow-white and the seven dwarfs still can hold its own to many other animated fairy tale films that are being put out today’. The original story of snow-white and the seven dwarfs was written by the brothers Grimm. They are German brothers who are known for their various folk tales and stories. The themes of snow-white would be vanity and jealousy as well as the resilience snow-white shows in the tough times. Another theme would be good vs evil as snow-white constantly shows kindness to everyone whilst on the other hand her stepmother (Queen malevolent) shows jealousy and evilness. The targeted audience for this pantomime would naturally be aimed for women and children as its a storyline they would more or less enjoy and reminisce.
Research evidence
Snow-white and the seven dwarfs movie
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zj6gvk7
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_(1937_film)