'Oh yes it is!' - Ecchinswell panto takes to the stage with a twist

The ninth Ecchinswell Pantomime took to the stage last weekend after three years away – and raised a whopping £2,400 for the parish.

Written and directed by Allan Unnuk – with additional bits added by the cast during rehearsals – Snow White and the Six Dwarves and a Gnome was held on January 28 and 29, giving around 500 theatre-goers a night to remember.

The traditional tale of Snow White was treated to the usual ‘Ecchinswell twist’, with guest appearances by Dick Whittington’s cat, the three bears, a big bad wolf, a cheeky gnome, a mermaid – “well we had this amazing costume, why wouldn’t you?” said Mr Unnuk – and a so-called ‘Smart Speaker’ called Alaska.

Mr Unnuk said the result “was variously described as ‘fabulous’, ‘hilarious’, ‘best yet’, and ‘really liked the panto’, this last from a passing child on a bicycle the day after.

“Huge thanks must go to the Royal Oak in Ecchinswell, not only for selling the tickets on our behalf, but for allowing a large group of strangely dressed people to invade the pub for a post-panto party on Saturday night.”

The show featured a 50-strong cast and crew, ranging from seven to over 70, from the surrounding villages, and it played to three packed houses – 500 people from the local area as well as “raucous supporters” from London, Cornwall and the North East.

Mr Unnuk added: “We are delighted to be able to put all the profits of £2,400 towards maintaining the village play park and defibrillator.”

The pantomime is the first to be held since 2019 after it was delayed by a year due to the pandemic.

The 2019 production, titled Cinders, took the traditional Cinderella story and added a number of bizarre twists.

The money raised from that production was then split between the village hall and for the parish council to install ‘kissing-gates’ instead of stiles around the village, to open up more of the countryside to the elderly population.