With around a decade of experience writing pantomimes under my belt, it’s fair to say I’ve learned a lot in that time about what makes a great pantomime.
While all my scripts have an annual spruce up, nip and tuck style, sometimes a more thorough re-write is required particularly for some of my oldest scripts.
But how do you re-write a script you’ve already written?
Starting from Scratch
I’ve seen a lot of productions of Snow White since I first wrote the script around seven years ago. It’s one of the pantomime titles which gives lots of flexibility around the core of the story and the characters within it.
For example, most dame characters are cooks, cleaners or nursery maids. All excellent traditional pantomimic careers. In my original script I borrowed from Aladdin and made the dame a washerwoman.
Over time, I’ve come to think this didn’t allow enough scope, either comedically or geographically for the dame role. When writing a pantomime you need a dame to be able to pop up in almost any scenario without having to explain it away with lengthy exposition.
In the new script, I’ve made her the new castle cleaner ‘Heather Duster’ which also allows an excellent slosh scene where the dame and Muddles are instructed to clean the Queen’s Laboratory. Let’s just say Muddles takes Heather’s instruction to “Put your back into it” a little too literally when scrubbing the Queen’s cauldron!
Focus on Heart
When I watched the London Palladium production of Snow White in 2018, a moment which struck a chord with me then has inspired parts of my new script. During an emotional flash back, Snow White’s late parents danced together (portrayed beautifully by Vincent and Flavia from Strictly Come Dancing) to a poignant instrumental song. It was so emotional it almost brought me to tears, and I decided that any Snow White I wrote in future needed to have a similar heartfelt tone running through it.
In my new script, Snow White has a necklace gifted to her by the late King, and created by the royal jewellers (the Seven Dwarfs!) who were later banished for disobedience by Queen Malevolent. This highlight’s Snow White’s emotional tie to her father, and mother who perished protecting her from a snow storm when she was a baby. It also ties in the idea of the Winter Festival which her father created in memory of her mother.
These references remind us throughout that Snow White misses her parents, and tells us about the kind of ruler she wants to be when she is crowned Queen. It also creates a great opportunity for the ensemble to shine and feature in the scenes which take place in the Frozen Forest.
Finding a Fairy
In my original Snow White I invented a food fairy named Appleblossom, which despite being a nice role always felt quite separate to the core story of the pantomime. The character essentially popped up between scenes giving the role a narrator-like quality, but never became more than that.
Drawing inspiration again from the London Palladium, and the desire to ensure a full-throttled role for actors playing the part, instead I created an opportunity for the Magic Mirror to break free from it’s frame in order to seek out the Seven Dwarfs.
Now, the Magic Mirror essentially fills the good fairy archetype. Plus they have their own motivation! To remain secretly loyal to the late King while being duty bound to carry out Queen Malevolent’s villainous instructions. What’s more, the role can be played by any gender making it flexible and unique in every production!
Honing a Huntsman
The role of the Huntsman in the traditional tale of Snow White is often as a straightforward henchman to the villainous Queen. However I wanted to find a way to add more comedy to proceedings.
Heinrich the Huntsman, as he’s known in the new script, is the Queen’s henchman, huntsman and keeper of the Royal Wolf Pack. It’s just a shame he also happens to be completely hapless!
He has no desire for danger, there isn’t a blood thirsty bone in his body. So when Queen Malevolent blackmails him into assassinating Snow White, the result is a number of comical failed attempts on her life during an earnest love song between the Princess and Prince William of Westminster.
All comes well for Heinrich as he later helps defeat the Queen and his job title is adjusted to Groundsman accounting for a more relaxed working life.
Setting the Scene
The locations and settings of the script have also had a re-think. The main stage sets of the Castle and the Frozen Forest remain, but if budget/space allows you can create a unique laboratory for Queen Malevolent’s cauldron, and a cottage for the Seven Dwarfs which appears as if by magic from the depths of the Frozen Forest.
I’ve been careful to write the script in such a way that allows flexibility for you to design your own scenery, or hire in traditional ‘Snow White’ sets to use depending on your preferred setup. Either way, the wintery scenery will provide a stunning backdrop to the action.
Dabbling with Dwarfs
As Disney owns the copyright to the most famous dwarf names in the story, the challenge is always to configure a group of individual personalities that can shine within the group whenever they are on stage.
With this new script, the Dwarfs have the added responsibility of being the late King’s royal jewellers, having created a beautiful necklace to gift to Snow White when she was a baby.
Alongside the more regular ‘Sarg’ (leader of the Dwarfs) and ‘Giggly’ type roles, in my script ‘Hippy’ (a laid back chilled-out dwarf) and ‘Oldie’ (an elderly rather forgetful dwarf) are added. The group have wonderful banter together, and a strong affection for Snow White. Plus they can all be played by any gender – ideal for tricky casting sceanarios.
The Finished Article
It took the best part of six months to re-write the new script from first ideas to final draft. As productions begin to be mounted, I will no doubt make tweaks and refinements. Adding more comedy lines as they occur to me. It’s always great to see what different directors and actors create using the script.
Check out an exclusive extract from the script, and the full synopsis and character list on my Snow White script page. You can also request a full perusal copy today.
