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Theatre listings >
The Snow Queen
Playwright - Stuart Patterson
Director - Dominic Hill
Designer - Soutra Gilmore
Lighting Designer - Richard Moffat
Composer - Savourna Stevenson
Movement - Rachel Smith
Company - Dundee Resident Rep Company
Cast - here
Venue - Dundee Rep Theatre www.dundeerep.co.uk
01382 223530 EdinburghGuide page about Dundee
Rep
Dates - 30 Nov - 4 Jan 2003 at 7:15pm Except 24 Dec
at 7pm
No public performances on Suns or Dec 3 & 4, 9 -1, 16
& 25 Dec and 1 & 2 Jan
Matinees every Sat at 2:30pm and 20, 23, 24, 27, 30, 31 Dec
and 3 Jan
Run Time 2 hrs 15 mins including 15 interval
Reviewer - Thelma Good
More cartoonlike than magical.
The story should chill then warm the heart but this production has some
very tepid moments. Irene Macdougal's Snow Queen is more mildly
irritating than a harridan who freezes your blood. Her glorious coach
drawn by polar bears never appears. Her bears have the worse animal costumes
I've seen this Christmas with lower jaws, sloppily made heads and floppy
pelts. And the sets, particularly the Ice Palace, are more cartoonlike
than magical, they might have worked better in a large auditorium where
distance could give grandeur.
Sometimes this cartoonlike approach works well. Gerda, Emily Winter,
off to rescue Kay, Andrew Clark, from the Snow Queen encounters
the glorious crows, sorry ravens, Scruff and Peck, Robert Patterson
and Anne Kidd who try to help her on her way. There's also
the Robber woman, Anne Kidd again, her useless vagabond gang and
her troubling knife wielding lacy basqued daughter Redhead, Claire
Dargo. Star turns are King Grin, John Buick, Princess Lena,
Janine Mellor and Prince, Rodney Matthews, - the dottily
childish royals who help Gerda evade the Snow Queen and her creepy servant
Cobweb Alexander West. Robert Patterson endears, bearing the good
characters on his reindeer back, his costume really captures that animal's
nature unlike the Snow Queen's polar bears.
But there are some very dodgy production decisions, the use of the trap
when the high heeled actor can only crawl out of it on to the stage -
not a entrance of power. The sun king Altan's costume in oranges, yellows
and reds reeks of those overpriced parks where animated characters come
to bizarre life waving hands at tourist cameras. There's also the slit-like
opening to the ice palace set, the excessively long and strong strobe
chase at the end and too keen use of amplification throughout. Radio mikes
don't work well in plays, even Christmas ones.
The production has not got the sharp pain the wonderful story of Hans
Christian Andersen contains but King Grin's court, ravens, robbers and
reindeer provided some very amusing scenes. If you like a Christmas show
to slide over storytelling depths you may be better pleased by this than
I.
© Thelma Good 5 December 2002. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast:
King Grin - John Buick.
Kay/Nico - Andrew Clark.
Redhead - Claire Dargo.
Altan/Twitch/Tough Bear - Keith Fleming.
Grandma/Robber Woman/Peck - Anne Kidd.
Snow Queen - Irene Macdougall.
Prince/Soft bear - Rodney Matthew.
Princess Lena - Janine Mellor.
Scruff/Muscles/Reindeer - Robert Patterson.
Cobweb Spider - Alexander West.
Gerda - Emily Winter.
Musicians - Emily Norris ( Vocals), Steve Kettley (Sax/Flute), Mhairi
Campbell ( Violins/Viola) and Savourna Stevenson (Harps).
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