REVIEW BY Jayne Bennett

The Snow Queen at The Bristol Old Vic

THE BRISTOL Old Vic is renowned for bringing fresh and inspiring interpretations of classic stories to entertain all ages over the festive season, and this year is no exception.

The Snow Queen is one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most popular and beloved fairy tales and is the most recent festive offering to make it to the Old Vic stage, following hot on the heels of last year’s Sleeping Beauty, the acclaimed Swallows and Amazons and the previous year’s Little Mermaid, and makes a magical change from the pantomime alternative.

A talented company of just 10 bring this beautiful story to life, and the basic plot is true to the original with some contemporary twists which bring it right up to date.

All the familiar motifs are there, from the mystical flower garden to the magical creatures of the forest; the goblin soldiers to Gerda’s reindeer friend. And of course, there is the magic mirror.

Gerda (Emily Burnett) and Kai (Steven Roberts) grow up together in the village of yellow roses, until one day an icy wind begins to blow and the naughty children of the village begin to disappear one by one.

It is the evil Snow Queen who is responsible, having sent out her goblin army to collect the little ones, until just two good children remain - Gerda and Kai. When the Snow Queen’s magic mirror – which makes the ugly beautiful and the beautiful ugly – is shattered, the Boffin Goblin (Joanna Holden) and her apprentice (Dylan Wood) manage to capture Kai and get a splinter of the glass into his eye, with the aim of the glass piercing his heart.

It is up to the heartbroken Gerda to leave the village and save her best friend, but it is a quest not without peril.

Director Lee Lyford has really pulled something quite extraordinary out of the bag with this show.

The strong female lead with anxiety issues is as much a positive role model as the boy with alternative tendencies, deviating from ‘the norm’ and providing welcome respite from the sense of intolerance which seems to be all-pervading at the moment.

The skill of the puppeteers is, as always, outstanding and Tom Rogers’ set, which represents five different worlds throughout the show, is distinctive fun, with its sci-fi and fantasy influences which cannot fail to appeal if you are after a feast for the eyes, as the icy Snow Queen towers over a cloud of dry ice heading out into the audience.

Music also plays an enormous role in the production, and the creative talents of musician Gwyneth Herbert are brought together with Faith I Branko Ristic to add an extra dimension to what is already a wonderful theatrical world.

And when Anton the reindeer goes a bit Morrissey, it gives the adults something to have a chuckle at too.

The efforts of the Old Vic to make a visual spectacle cannot be praised highly enough, and if you are looking for somewhere to escape with the family over the Christmas period, away from the tacky tinsel and commercial chaos, then the King Street theatre is really the place to be.

  • The Snow Queen runs at the Bristol Old Vic until January 15.
  • For more details and tickets visit bristololdvic.org.uk or call 0117 987 7877.