Ahead of Cardiff’s New Theatre in-house panto – Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs – opening for its traditional month-long residency, Buzz’s Rhiannon Farr popped in to chat with its cast, including Gareth Thomas and Ian ‘H’ Watkins.

“If you work with the people you love, you love your work,” says Welsh rugby icon Gareth Thomas, when I ask him about the relationships between the cast of this year’s panto at Cardiff’s New Theatre, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. This multi-talented cast appears to have developed a close family-esque relationship, despite only having been in rehearsals for a few days. According to the cast, the show came together incredibly quickly – they began rehearsing on Monday and had finished by Wednesday. “I’ve never run a show so quickly,” says panto dame Mike Doyle, “and I’ve been doing pantos for 34 years!”

The hilarious friendship between Gareth Thomas and Ian ‘H’ Watkins, a south Wales native best known as a member of Steps, became ever apparent to me – the constant jokes between the two made for a rather entertaining couple of hours. “It doesn’t matter what we do, we will always be upstaged by Gareth wearing gold hot pants…” says H, as Doyle recalls the hilarity of witnessing the two of them bickering while walking through Cardiff city centre.

So what we can look forward to seeing in this year’s Snow White panto? According to Siân Reeves, playing the part of the Wicked Queen, “It’s really high tech and visually fantastic, and the costumes are amazing.” It seems that a huge amount of work has gone into this production, and each cast member was eager to tell me this – especially considering this is the first panto since 2019 that hasn’t been interrupted by the pandemic.

The Magnificent Seven (aka the dwarfs) gave me an insight into the biggest musical numbers of the show: including a rendition of The Twelve Days Of Christmas and a Steps medley. The latter is a popular choice within the cast: as the self-aware H says, “Telling them about the medley isn’t a spoiler… of course, there’ll be Steps songs if H is in the show!”

Much of the Snow White cast is Wales-based, but not all. A couple of the Magnificent Seven are from London, so the Welsh dwarfs have taken it upon themselves to show them the sights of Cardiff. The cast members were unanimous in telling me how much they love Cardiff, especially at Christmas; the Christmas markets and lights proved to be a hit with most of the cast. Working this panto has also allowed the Welsh cast members to reconnect with the capital: ventriloquist Steve Hewlett even met Mike Doyle 30 years ago, while he was working in Barry Island.

“Who else has got a stadium next to a castle?” comments Gareth. “You get a sense of pride seeing the capital city of your country come alive with this festive buzz.” Denquar Chupak, whose sweet personality makes her the perfect Snow White, has gained a newfound love for Roath Park, while Nay-Nay Gapomo, playing the Prince, is experiencing his first time in Cardiff and is loving the castle. The two feel incredibly grateful to be in this panto, Nay-Nay telling me how honoured he is to be performing in the historic New Theatre after discovering its panto history in Cardiff.

The final question I posed to the cast was who the naughtiest cast member in rehearsals is. The answer was unanimous… Gareth, of course. H qualified that normally it would be himself, but Gareth is full of chaos; other cast members, including Gareth himself, concur.

It seems like this version of Snow White will have something for everyone of all ages, and speaking to the cast made me look forward to witnessing it in the New Theatre this Christmas.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, New Theatre, Cardiff, Sat 10 Dec-Sun 8 Jan.

Tickets: £23.50-£45. Info: here

words RHIANNON FARR