Snow White & Rose Red, aimed at 2-7year-olds, is all plot, songs, pantomime high jinks and a rough and ready approach to theatrical presentation.

It is a clever mix of a number of fairy stories with the now customary green message tacked on. A daffy hunter (Gareth Ruck) wants to shoot a bear, Rose Red (Phylli Jason Smith) wants to stop the hunting and her sister Snow White (Alison Walls) tags along, a bit too diffident to be a proper heroine.

Prince Hadrian (David Goldthorpe), who keeps falling over much to the delight of the audience, lacks any heroic qualities, though he does come right for the dancing competition at the end.

Alison Walls doubles as a witch who wants to get out of black and into a pink floaty dress so she can get invited to parties and Gareth Ruck doubles as the king who wants the hunter to bring him back a bear.

Rose Red loses a shoe and Hadrian gets turned into the bear. A lot of plot but the young audience seemed to follow it all despite a couple of songs too many and the tatty scenery making place a matter of conjecture.
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It is a testament to KidzStuff’s solid reputation that the opening performance of Snow White & Rose Red was packed out, even in the middle of Easter weekend.

The original Grimm fairytale is a rather bland story about two nature-loving sisters, a mean dwarf and a Prince who is turned into a bear. However in this adaptation, writer and director Sarah Delahunty has successfully jazzed the whole thing up, ditching the dwarf for two delightfully naughty antagonists: a witch in search of a pink floaty dress (no one invites you to parties when you’re dressed like a witch), and a daffy British hunter in search of a bearskin.

There’s a lot of plot to get through in 45 minutes but the script is tight, the directing is energetic and the actors leap in with confidence and keep things ticking along with clarity and simplicity.

The show is driven by Gareth Ruck in the dual roles of Hunter and King. His youthful exuberance keeps the whole play bouncing along nicely; so much so that the kids were keener to help out the Hunter than save the bear. The old "Which way did he go?" chestnut not quite turning out the way it was supposed to.

But it is during these moments that Ruck is in his element and improvises seamlessly. It almost appears that he, as in the best improv tradition, invites disaster, leaving the audience to wonder how he’s going to get himself out of this one. Which he does every time, to the delight of both children and adults. The other actors seem a little afraid of interacting with the kids, something that two weeks of shows should remedy.

Alison Walls is suitably nice as the rather superfluous Snow White, but she comes in to her own as the witch. It is refreshing to see a witch who has real motivation for being in a bad mood. Both Ruck and Walls hit a nice balance between evil and silly which avoids the tears in the audience.

David Goldthorpe does an excellent job of the timid Prince. He exhibited a lovely yearning in his singing and his numerous pratfalls were a real hit with the youngsters.

Phylli JasonSmith’s Rose Red is the least well defined of the characters, and while she maintains good energy, she could do with a stronger director’s hand to guide her in to a more noble, less flappy heroine.

The songs are a mixed bag, as is the singing. The Hunter has the catchiest songs and Ruck attacks them with mighty aplomb. The two girls could do with putting more characterisation in to their pieces, which might cover the weak melodies and difficult keys.

The Tararua Tramping Club is clearly a tough space to work in and does not lend itself to high class production values. Having said that, there is no excuse for scruffiness. When your budget is tight, and you don’t have a designer, then keep it simple and tidy. The cardboard set pieces were too small and vague to add anything. The cast make the most of the tiny stage but the ratty orange cloth at the back served no purpose but to make the space look cheap. Cleaner lines and a little more imagination would do wonders.

The same can be said of the costuming. While it is typically period/fairytale there is a dire lack of hats to cover unstyled hair and everything needs a good ironing. Little details such as these can add so much to a character and make a production look complete. It is also a shame that Rose Red’s costume seems to swallow her up. No one likes a frumpy heroine. I do not believe that just because a show is aimed at children that the audience should forgive poor production values.

However, the core workings of the play are solid and enjoyable. Sarah Delahunty clearly knows what works in kid’s theatre and has four very capable actors to keep the kids laughing and dancing till the very end.
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