A straight-forward and straight-faced retelling of the Grimm’s twisted classic
Who’s The Fairest Of Them All? tells the very familiar tale of Snow White and her wicked stepmother (AKA. the Evil Queen) but with a twist – Snow White is ALSO wicked. Kind of?
The play dedicates way longer than you would expect to establishing the dynamic between these two characters, for such a familiar story – the Evil Queen parades around for quite some time in her dark cape and deep-cut dress, applying lipstick, and scattering flowers on the floor for poor Snow White to clean up. She marvels at her own beauty in the ‘Mirror’, a character in itself, amusingly portrayed by a slightly catty disembodied voice. The Mirror reassures and reassures the Queen that she is, truly, “the fairest of them all”. So far, so incredibly traditional.
But then! Snow White herself becomes embroiled in her stepmother’s Magic Mirror Dependency, as SHE is deemed the new and improved FairestOfThemAll™. The solution to this ordeal? Death, and Who’s The Fairest of Them All?’s best scene. Snow White and the Evil Queen (portrayed pleasantly and with great sincerity by Holly Wagner and Jenna Donoghue, respectively) attempt to poison each other, at the same time, with the same tactic – Snow White eagerly offers her stepmother a freshly baked pie, the Evil Queen even more eagerly offers her stepdaughter a delightful apple. Both suspect each other, and thus ensues a great comedy of manners – it’s the comedic highlight of an otherwise very straight-faced production, and really rather reminiscent of The Princess Bride.
We fast-forward to some years later, with the Evil Queen safely out of the picture (spoiler: she eats the pie), to meet Snow White’s own daughter, Eve. The apple of Snow White’s eye, until one day the same fate befits her as did her ancestors – the blasted Mirror deems her even more fair than her mother. At this point, the hope that things will get more exciting begins to dwindle. It seems increasingly unlikely that some great twist will be revealed, to really make the heavy topics at hand here (beauty, aging, even motherhood) hit as hard as they could.
The audience is then introduced to another stock character, the Huntsman (played with a genuinely Shakespearean level of commitment by Kyle Paton), who is sent to kill Eve. You could say he’s… Killing Eve. At this point, the play descends into something far more dramatic than its feeble beginnings: every actor is suddenly screaming at each other, distraught, betrayed, and hysterical. It’s testament to the performers’ talent that they manage to elevate such a minimal script into something eventually quite invigorating: the line “she wanted to bake a pie for the Queen” is delivered with the emotional gravitas of a war cry.
Ultimately, Who’s The Fairest Of Them All? didn’t quite land with its older crowd on this performance, and would perhaps be better targeted at a much younger demographic. There are valuable lessons to be learned here, and they are all presented with such exposition and earnestness, in a way that could really appeal to children. Who’s The Fairest Of Them All? has a talented cast and a commendable message, albeit one that doesn’t require an hour long performance to convey.