00:00The search for Liverpool's next Snow White brought more than 90 young performers to an open audition at the Epstein
00:07Theatre.
00:08Alicia Curry was successful making her panto debut with the starring role.
00:13I didn't expect to get the role. It was an open call audition. I was still training, coming to the
00:19end of my part-time course at Wild Liverpool.
00:21And I thought, let's give it a shot, get some experience and I'd love to play Snow White.
00:25I feel so blessed just to be able to be in this position and leave drama school with a main
00:32role in the show. It's unbelievable. I can't believe it.
00:35She joins a cast with links to some of the region's best known TV and radio names.
00:40Ryan Mulvey, best known for his roles in Hollyoaks and Coronation Street, plays the Prince.
00:45It's just a whole energy thing. We're bounced off them, they're bouncing off us.
00:49It's kind of collaborative as a show, even obviously we're the performers and they're the audience.
00:54But then, you know, there's going to be heckling, there's going to be a load of fun.
00:57And that is kind of the brilliant thing about panto, because no one else does that.
01:01And I don't think any other countries really do that or like cultures do that.
01:05So that's why it's so special that we're doing it. And like, it's just a big collaborative thing.
01:10Radio presenter and stage veteran Leanne Campbell appears in person as the magic mirror.
01:15I think I was probably 11, 12 when I first went into professional theatre.
01:20So playing Annie and we had West End, you know, tours coming to the pool, which we still have all
01:24the time.
01:25That's wonderful. But to have a space like this with our own creatives, whether it's light and sound, whether it's
01:31performing,
01:32whether it's, you know, writing scripts that are different and fresh, that aren't being seen.
01:36So hard to be seen.
01:38So for us to have somewhere like this where you can knock on the door, take advantage, do it, they're
01:43waiting for you.
01:44They really are. And there are very few places around the world, I think, where fresh talent can be seen
01:49and can do the thing, you know.
01:52Seven familiar names provide the dwarfs' voices, though they will not be appearing in person.
01:58Ricky Tomlinson, Pete Price, Michael Parr, Matthew Wolfenden, Louis Emmerich, Kieran Richardson and John May make up the seven dwarfs.
02:07Do you know what? I haven't seen a panto in a while, but when I was a kid, you know,
02:10it's a British staple and that's why I'm excited to be a part of it.
02:13My grandma's 88 and I think she's booked a front row ticket already, so I think she'll definitely have a
02:18few red wines.
02:19And I think, but that's why it is so special, panto, because it's lasted that length of time.
02:25So, you know, like it's kind of entertained a four-year-old, but like you said, also a 94-year
02:29-old or whoever in between.
02:30And that's what's the magic about it.
02:32So last year, obviously, was our first time putting panto in for a long time and you like to think
02:37that people remember and nostalgia will be there and you're never quite sure, but we are like full hours of
02:45standard ovations.
02:46And we could have gone on because it was so full towards the end. We laughed saying we could have
02:50gone on for another month.
02:51Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Epstein Theatre runs right through the festive season until the 3rd of
02:57January.
02:58Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Epstein Theatre runs right through the festive season until the 3rd of
02:58January.
