THE SNOW QUEEN. To 7 April.
Oxford
THE SNOW QUEEN
by Hans Christian Andersen adapted by Teresa Ludovico English translation by Stuart Rogers
Oxford Playhouse To 7 April 2007
Tue-Wed, Sat 7.30pm Fri 7pm Mat Thu 11am & 4pm Sat 2.30pm
Runs 1hr 10min No interval
TICKETS: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 3 April
Humour, spectacle and humanity make this a winner.
Kismet, from Bari, Italy, are always welcome visitors to British theatre. Their tour (organised by Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse) ends in Oxford, and is well worth catching. Aimed at 7+, this spare spectacle will delight adults and even win over some among the hardcore teens.
It’s cosmic in scale but appeals to young sceptics with an opening that parallels the Big Bang origin of the universe with a great diabolic fart, from which erupt mini-devils. These diminutive figures’ masks hang in columns along the stage, with a malign grin towards the action that follows as the Grand Master Demon’s splintered mirror-cloak chills the heart and mind of any who receive a fragment.
That includes young Kay, whose previous, affectionate relationship with his sister Gerda is summed up by their playful “Good-nights” and a quick kiss. Adapter/director Teresa Ludovico sees the story as a trip from childhood into the awkward emotions of adolescence. Kismet’s journey does not delay to provide realistic detail or psychological exploration.
Instead, it presents mind and heart through a succession of images involving elements of dance and circus. The Prince and Princess Gerda visits because he might turn out to be Kay, hang mid-air folded in sheets, hands stretched to clasp each other, before rolling balletically earthwards down their sheeting.
Food is prepared by a juggler; the Snow Queen’s fury is expressed formidably in dance more than words. Moon-like spotlights create a sense of intense cold. Gerda’s loyalty to Kay is visualised by removing her red shoes; her Arctic journey is undertaken barefoot, though the shoes are there for her when she’s completed her journey.
Later stages, with Gerda drawn along by a reindeer, are played out under a spectacular snow-fall. As she approaches the Queen’s Palace the cold finally strikes Gerda; yet her body, rigid with cold as it’s becoming, warms the frozen Kay in the final, understated yet momentous, moment.
Perhaps the very end, when a couple of warm, celebratory streamers are thrown over the pair is slightly anticlimactic, and the bursts of emotion-raising opera-pops seem trite. But they hardly spoil Kismet’s deeply imaginative work.
Robber Girl/Princess/Laplander: Elisa Canessa
Snow Queen/Laplander: Elisabetta Di Terlizzi
Gerda: Sonia Diaz
Kay: Federico Dimitri
Grandmother/Flower Woman/Crow’s Fiance/ Robber Woman/Finland Woman: Eve Guerrier
Prince/Dove/Laplander: Francesco Manenti
Grand Master Demon/Artichoke/Crow/Reindeer: Augusto Masiello
Director: Teresa Ludovico
Designer/Lighting: Vincent Longuemare
Movement: Giorgio Rossi
2007-04-04 11:35:05