Smut’s Saga, or Santa and the Vikings!
About the Production
Panto Viking fun. Nordic myth runs riot: valkyries, trolls, dwarves – and Father Christmas!
Long centuries divide the epic Norse saga from traditional pantomime, but the two genres share some similarities. Both are ritual entertainments in which time-honoured tales of derring-do, featuring a habitual cast of larger than life characters, are performed to delight a deeply involved audience.
This is an epic Norse saga set in a land of icy fjords and cold, grey seas. A tale of longships and trolls, Valkyries and Valhalla – but incorporating all the essential ingredients of traditional panto. Boundless audience participation, corny double-entendres, ingenious special effects, men dressed up as women, women dressed up as men. And all with the added bonus of a new story set against the vivid backdrop of Norse tradition – with no opportunity missed to exploit every Viking gag imaginable!
Wicked Viking Jarl, Smut the Smug, crosses the northern sea to ravage the coast of England, only to encounter rival Viking, Svein, Prince of the Blue Fjords, searching England for his Princess bride. The villain flees with no booty, except for three exceedingly naughty children, Tum, Dickon and Harald. But Smut is pursued back to his lair in Smutland by the children’s outraged and outrageous guardian, the indomitable Dame Dustpan, joined by Prince Svein, who agrees to help rescue the children in return for help tracking down his princess. But before they can complete their quest, our heroes have to outwit the monstrous Stoneheart, Lord of the Rock Trolls, and deal with Smut’s dotty but deadly accomplice, the witch, Helga Forkbeard.
Complete with mountains and fjords, dragonships, dwarves and giants, not to mention Santa Claus, the whole rich tapestry of Viking folklore is here. Skilfully blended with the enchantment, slapstick and audience participation of traditional pantomime.
The Cast
Behind the Scenes
Image Gallery
The Reviews
Vikings arrive to loot the laughter
Theatre Workshop Coulsdon’s pantomime, which can be seen over the next three days at the Youth and Social Centre, Chipstead Valley Road, is nothing if not original. Written and directed (or rather “scribbled and bossed about”) by Richard Lloyd, Smut’s Saga or Santa and the Vikings” is a glorious Dark Ages mishmash in which Santa Claus somehow finds a place, along with a genial Dame Dustpan, to give us a link with pantos of the more usual sort.
The mixture proved much to the audience’s liking, at least on the opening night.
Smut the Smug, in the person of Paul M Ford, is an eminently hissable villain, arriving on our shores in a Viking longboat which is a credit to the backstage crew. His uncouth hooligan manners suggest that things have not changed much over the past thousand years, and there is some amusing minor wickedness from the Vikings Eric Big Axe and Thor Smallsword, played respectively by Mike Brown and Nathan Moughtin. It is also a pleasure to cheer Tatiana Allison on as the good Biking Prince, in company with the cheery Tim Young as the not-so-dwarfish Filofax the Dwarf. A bouquet also to Glen Keary and Jonathon Wales for their balancing act as the immensely tall Big Rollo the Giant.
As for Dame Dustpan, Chris Argles invests her with all the cheeky resilience of the species. Her three wards are nimbly played by Steven Kennick, Rachel Handler and Wendy New. Robert Del Toro puts in some jolly ho-ho-ho-ing as Santa, but Bruce Montgomery, notwithstanding his powerful delivery, is fighting a losing battle as the boring (and well-named) sagamaker Snorri Snorrison.
The Bjorn Three Ensemble provide good musical backing for this good-hearted panto.
Donald Madgwick for The Croydon Advertiser
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