Familiar Faces Return to Eden Court for Snow White This Christmas
/The Eden Court’s pantomime preparations are well under way and they are delighted to announce the return of many familiar faces for this year’s production of Snow White.
Taking on the dual roles of director and dame for the second-year running is Steven Wren, with the hilarious Ross Allan returning for more slapstick fun as Jingles the Jester. The role of Prince will be taken on by David Rankine, who was last at Eden Court in the title role of Aladdin in 2014 and the iconic role of the Wicked Queen will be played by Marj Hogarth who is thrilled to once again be playing a baddie having played Carabosse in Eden Court’s 2013 production of Sleeping Beauty.
Steven says “I had a wonderful time playing dame last year – it was just so much fun getting back on to the panto stage again after five years away from it. The Eden Court panto team are great so it enables me to be able to both direct and perform. We do have a new member of the team this year in Lesley Wood who will both choreograph and assist me with directing the show, and once again the fabulous Will Marshall is back as our Musical Director.”
Marj Hogarth is delighted to be back in Inverness “I love working at Eden Court because it's a beautiful theatre that is very much at the heart of the community of Inverness. I love that people travel enormous distances to come to the pantomime, and I take the responsibility of that dedication very seriously. Although I couldn't get much further away from home as I now live in England!”
“I have been playing the panto baddie for 25 years. It's always a joy. We all love to be a little bit scared, and I love playing formidable women. The Wicked Queen in Snow White is one of the most well-known of the panto ‘bad girls’ and I am sure I will have great fun in the role.”
Recently Marj has been writing a series of female characters that will form a one woman show as well as being involved in developing immersive theatre experiences for children and young people with special needs.
This year both Ross Allan and David Rankine have appeared in productions at the Edinburgh Science Festival. Ross has been appeared in Uncanny Valley for Borderline Theatre Company / The Gaiety Theatre Company while David starred in Cosmonaut. David has also Appeared in Avoidable Climbing for the Take Me Somewhere Festival, Real Hoosewives Fae Glesga for the Pavilion Theatre and Lost in Music with Magnetic North.
Ross says “Inverness is definitely like a second home to me now as I have spent nearly two months here every year for the past five years. I obviously worked with Steven last year and I was also in Aladdin with David and Sleeping Beauty with Marj and it will be great to work with all of them again.”
David is delighted to be taking on the role of the Prince. “Over the last few years I have played the title role in Aladdin and the arrogant and vain Hunter in Beauty and the Beast and I will be playing a dashing Prince this year. They are all very different roles and I feel very fortunate to get the opportunity to play so many contrasting characters.”
Stephen Boden, Managing Director of Imagine Theatre who produce the pantomime, says “We are thrilled to have such a strong cast coming together for Snow White. Ross is very popular with the Eden Court panto audiences and is now in to his fifth year with us, and teaming up with Steven Wren last year was a great success so we are delighted to have them both at the helm once again. David is a really versatile performer who has a great understanding of panto and Marj plays a wonderful baddie. With such a fabulous cast in place I am really confident that Snow White will be another brilliant panto.”
Snow White is one of the most popular tales of them all so we advise booking your tickets early to avoid disappointment. The panto runs from Tuesday 5th December 2017 until Sunday 7th January 2018
