THE SNOW QUEEN. To 10 January.
Leeds.
THE SNOW QUEEN
by Hans Christian Andersen adapted by Mike Kenny.
West Yorkshire Playhouse (Courtyard Theatre) To 10 January 2009.
10am 6-9 Jan.
1pm 2-4, 6-8, 10 Jan.
6.30pm 2-3, 9-10 Jan.
Audio-described 10 Jan 6.30pm.
Runs 1hr 40min One interval.
TICKETS: 0113 213 7700.
www.wyp.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 December.
Serious story mixed with theatrical fun.
With both writer Mike Kenny and director Gail McIntyre there’s absolute certainty a script and production are in the hands of people who know how the young, in this case the 4+ age range, respond and who will provide carefully-crafted yet lively theatre. So though Stuart Paterson’s version of Hans Andersen’s story, for an older group, remains among the finest modern plays for the young, this light-mannered yet duly serious Snow Queen can reign confidently at the Courtyard Theatre.
The space is set out as a traverse stage – a bank of seats either side, while there’s also a row along the stage-ends at a higher level. It works well, allowing Christopher Chilton’s drag Grandma, for example, to ask various front-row children to guard her big bag whenever she sets off after Gerda, and takes part in the action. And that keeps up the chat between storytelling granny and the story-receiving audience.
This is among Andersen’s coldest tales, and not just because it involves a quest to the North Pole. The cosmic mirror that splinters and pierces victims such as Kai makes them suddenly cruelly self-obsessed, while the impossible task the Snow Queen sets the boy as her prisoner captures the isolating, self-destructive result of such coldness.
Kenny provides a fine objective way of containing that temperamental coldness. Granny has a sack of spectacles, trying several of them on. One, white-rimmed pair operates like the mirror, and prompts her to tell the Snow Queen story to the two young people. Even an adult can feel the relief when she takes them off; this is a powerfully resonant tale.
The Queen herself is, like the opposite of a good Victorian child, heard but never seen, helping retain her force. Cross-casting Granny may make her more cheerily chatty, with overtones of the comic pantomime Dame. But it’s also part of a scheme to highlight the heroine Gerda as the only genuine female person onstage. Pamela Okoroafor gives her an appropriately purposeful directness, surrounded by a sympathetic Robber, helpful crows and doves plus puppet royals – and some delightful audience-contribution songs from composer/singer Ivan Stott.
Kai: Duncan Barton.
Grandma: Christopher Chilton.
Crow/Robber: Chris Lindon.
Gerda: Pamela Okoroafor.
Pigeon: Ivan Stott.
Director: Gail McIntyre.
Designer: Hannah Clark.
Lighting: Ian Scott.
Sound/Composer/Musical Director: Ivan Stott.
Assistant director: Madeleine O’Reilly.
2008-12-31 20:57:07