The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen pantomime is adapted from the original 19th century fairy tale of Hans Cristian Andersen which was originally  written as seven tales and features Gerda’s (Hannah Bass) travels to find and rescue her boyfriend Kai (Laura Stawarz) from the clutches of the evil Snow Queen (Dianne Renner) after Kai has been temporarily turned to the ‘dark side’ – These three acted and sang their roles really well utilising the sweetness of Gerda, the determination of Kai and the evil of the Snow Queen to great effect.

The role of Hans Christian Anderson was both story teller and narrator and ideally suited to Murray Mackay as the main protagonists travelled through Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Lapland to the Snow Queen’s palace over the four seasons picking up people (and Reindeers) along the way; Blossom (an ‘earthy’ Spring lady – Fiona Dunn); Sunbeam (a ‘hippy’ Summer – Jennifer Greenwood); Frederika (a would-be gypsy ‘robber’ – Georgia Young) and Old Lapp Lady (a mother figure – Sandra Storey). Each accompanied Gerda on her travel’s whist bestowing gifts on her to help in her eventual quest.

Along her travels Gerda was also ably assisted or hampered by ‘aged hippy, ‘Ziggy’ (Keith Fraser), raucous Crow (Nicola Hastie), a Robber chief (Aimee Southwood)

The eternal battle of Good vs Evil was epitomised by Snowdrop the good fairy (Denise Clarke) vs The Snow Queen and her evil stooge Henrik (Lee Robson) and his two ‘Trolls’ (Matthew McIver-Scott and Erin Hook) – each played their roles well.

As in all pantomimes there is always a ‘daft lad’ and a ‘dame’ – these roles were well played by Morgan Flannigan (Helmut) and Jonathan Scott (Gran) – both engaged well with the audience with great interaction.
One character that got special empathy from the audience was the role of Rufus (Sharon Young) as she played the downtrodden world weary reindeer to much sympathy mixed with amusement.

A small but versatile chorus enhanced ensemble scenes to good effect utilising good choreography with Emma-Jane Hume and Susan Whyte playing minor roles

Music in the capable hands of Aubrey Sanderson and his six-piece ensemble was sympathetic to the cast who all played their parts enhancing the principals; set was colourful and well utilised; sound was crisp and clear and lighting equally of a high standard. The panto was slightly long for fidgeting youngsters, but this didn’t alter what was a colourful and bright pantomime.

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