THE SNOW QUEEN

Nuffield Theatre, Southampton

AN exciting contemporary stage set of dramatic vertical poles of sparkling light depicting trees and ice set the scene for this magical and thought-provoking interpretation of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, in which good battles with evil.

The loyal and determined Gerda (Jessie Hart) sets out to rescue her friend Kai (Jos Slovick) after he is captured by the chillingly menacing Snow Queen (Natasha Jayetileke) whose evil intent is to capture and possess all that is beautiful and good and turn it to ice.

On her journey, Gerda meets up with the gloomy raven (Jack Shalloo) and promises to help him find a tree for his nest if he will help her to find the snow queen’s ice palace.

Meanwhile, the captured Kai is gradually freezing to death on his lofty swing and losing hope whilst Gerda frantically searches for him.

The two travellers are intercepted by a convincingly terrifying knife-wielding robber maiden (Nicola Munns) dressed in scarlet, but fear turns to laughter with the appearance of the cuddly Rudolph (Rob Castell) who has the audience rocking with laughter.

The green-faced witch (Joyce Greenaway) appears with a tray of freshly-baked cakes that are steadily consumed by Rudolph as the witch receives a valuable life- lesson from Gerda on forgiveness and retribution.

Expect the unexpected, and feel the fear along with the characters with this fast-moving and constantly surprising interpretation of a traditional fairy tale.

Diana Holman