The Snow Queen

Heather Adams Officer’s adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson story was a well written script full of witty one-liners, local references and well known songs. Gordon Smith and his team had produced a colourful and sparkling set, including a Santa’s Sleigh which glided through the auditorium to end Act 1, augmented by Al Watt and team’s lighting effects. Liz Forrest was malevolently cold hearted as the titular Snow Queen as she tried to stop Christmas and fully deserved every hiss and boo. Andrew Dart as her aide–de-camp Jack Frost elicited both boos and laughter at his attempts to capture Gerda. The two young friends at the centre of the story Gerda (Heather Smith) and Kai (Lewis Maitland) were an extremely strong pairing. Kai’s change in character after coming under the Snow Queen’s power was well handled. Leading the party to rescue Kai and Gerda was Garry Brindley’s outrageous Granny Rose who had a passion for handsome Santa Claus (played by Murray Lawson) – their duet “Santa Baby” was a hoot. Assisting in the rescue were the wise Vel the Crow (Tim Roberts) and the adorable Bae the Reindeer (Freda Adams and Catriona Ball). Strong support was given by Kirsty Lockhart as Prince Erik, who led the company in a rumbustious “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, Lois Donaldson (Princess Christina), Martha Roseweir (Girl), Abbey Patterson (Eddie the Elf) and Bill Williamson (Ice Captain). The highlight of the performance was the hilarious rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” by Granny, Jack Frost and Vel Crow which had the audience in stitches and yelling for an encore! The well drilled chorus sang and danced well whether in their guise as villagers, courtiers or Santa’s Elves. Congratulations to all at Ury Players for another excellent production.

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