LIFE as a pantomime princess is fraught with peril – especially when you’re already prone to dramatic tumbles.

With bulging ball gowns to manoeuvre not to mention booby traps to dodge at every turn on stage, Snow White will need a touch of the stuntwoman to hold her own in this year’s action-packed reinvention of the fairy tale.

Despite a poor track-record of standing upright – as evidenced by her ill-timed nose-dive as Cinderella in her last pantomime – Sophie Camble aka Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ virtuous heroine, is ready to take up the gauntlet.

“I won’t fall on stage… Famous last words,” she says before bursting out laughing.

“I’m such a klutz. Last year during my big exit at the ball, I ran off leaving the glass slipper and tripped on my ball gown up the steps. People on stage were dying with laughter. It was terribly embarrassing. But it was a dramatic panto exit.

“If I can get through the run standing on my feet I will be pretty happy.”

Contending with wardrobe malfunctions, the relentless pull of gravity and improvised projectiles is zilch compared to the precarious task of currying favour with her discerning and ruthless young audience.

“Children look up at you and think you’re real,” says the 27-year-old, who grew up in Bournemouth. “It’s so lovely but you can’t disappoint them. They’re your biggest critics. If you’re not in it, they won’t be in it. They won’t applaud politely.”

Fresh from touring Japan with Top Hat, Sophie turned down an offer to reprise her role as Cinderella to bring to life another downtrodden teenager, albeit not quite as browbeaten, in Swindon.

That being said, don’t expect a Disney-style shrinking violet with the emotional range of, well, cartoon royalty. Sophie’s Snow White is single-minded with the sass to match.

“She a lot of attitude and she stands up to the Evil Queen. The show is a bit grittier. She’s still the pure and innocent but she is a bit more of this day and age. It’s not so black and white. And it’s so much fun. That’s what I love about panto. It’s a hard season and you live, sleep, breathe it. But it doesn’t feel like work, everyone is happy, it’s Christmas. You go home every day with a big smile on your face.”

Unlike her co-stars who will be allowed, nay, egged on to wreak blissful havoc at the Wyvern for our viewing pleasure, Sophie will be expected to be the voice of reason and effectively keep the plot ticking along in the face of utter mayhem, as befits a panto princess.

“I think I’m lucky with my character or actually you could say unlucky because I have to play her straight. The villains and dames, those are the dangerous roles. With the comedy you have to juggle with the audience’s reaction. I don’t have much leeway to veer off script. I can’t laugh with the others, I have to hold back the laugh for back stage.

“But even the others have to be well-behaved. Everyone can have a laugh but it can’t descend into chaos. You can’t have a free-for-all out there.”

Learning to maintain her composure at all cost may come in handy on the first day of rehearsal when she finally comes within touching distance of the panto’s superstar and the man she grew up watching on Eastenders, Adam Woodyatt.

“I know him, well I feel like I know Ian Beale very well. It’s going to be strange meeting him. I will be a bit star-struck at first.”

A conscientious thesp Sophie started brushing up on Snow White while still on tour with the Top Hat crew in Tokyo. Though she may have stretched the definition of research a tad.

“I went to Tokyo Disneyland,” she chuckles. “It was good homework.”

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs runs at the Wyvern Theatre from December 5 to January 3. To book call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.

— MARION SAUVEBOIS