Tag Archives: Ruari Murchison

THE SNOWMAN

★★★★

Peacock Theatre

THE SNOWMAN at the Peacock Theatre

★★★★

“playful, spectacular and touching”

One Christmas Eve, a young boy’s snowman comes to life and takes him on a journey to the North Pole. The Snowman is a transfixing dance show for all ages in celebration of visual storytelling and Christmas enchantment. In its 27th festive season at the Peacock Theatre, Birmingham Rep’s iconic Christmas show continues to awake childhood nostalgia and childlike wonder.

Take caution. You will have the feature song ‘Walking In The Air’ (Howard Blake) stuck in your head, but the kids love it and so will you! Have a mulled wine and tis the season.

Based on the book by Raymond Briggs and its 1982 film adaptation directed by Dianne Jackson, this performance uses clowning, masks, and ballet to bring the storybook adventure to life. Curtain up and we are introduced to a young boy who wakes up to the joyful discovery that it has snowed. He races outside to build a snowman where he is joined by processions of Christmas carollers and teenagers having snowball fights. This constant flow of familiar characters across the stage makes the world feel ‘real’ at the very top of the show, thus making the gradual reveal of ‘magic’ even more immersive.

The ballet is gorgeous (Robert North) and even more impressive when performed by dancers in giant animal costumes with crafted heads (Robert Allsop) reminding us of Disneyland characters. However, if you are afraid of clowns this might be one to skip. As the snowman is completed and comes to life, his stiff smile and black holes for eyes is slightly creepy. The continuous giggling of kids in the audience may say otherwise. Despite the mask, the snowman’s physicality presents him as a dumb but lovable animation sidekick. He moves with steady and heavy steps, acts the fool, makes fumbles but indulges the young boy’s requests – even stealing a motorcycle. He is Winnie-the-Pooh as a dancing snowman.

Ruari Murchison’s concave design of the stage’s proscenium frame reminds us of the Looney Tunes “That’s All Folks” closing screen, reinforcing the episodic structure of the performance. Each scene holds its own space as a sketch or cartoon which at times quickly overlap for a smooth transition, keeping you (and the kids) spellbound throughout the performance.

It is clear that under the superb direction of Bill Alexander, Birmingham Rep really took their time exploring how to best reimagine iconic moments from the 1982 film to the stage. A standout moment is the scene where the snowman discovers the light switch in the kitchen. Here, a five second moment in the film is transformed into a one-minute comedic transition between scenes that sees the snowman dancing to strobing lights. When we reach the North Pole, the stage adaptation delivers surprises to expand the story from the film. Not only do we meet Father Christmas, his reindeer and other enchanted snowmen, but also a snow queen and a mysterious deviant who might not be a friend to our darling snowman. A welcome pantomime twist that promises some laughs and suspense.

The stage version of The Snowman captures the essence of the animated film whilst making room for comedy, dance and story development with the addition of characters we recognise from other beloved Christmas tales or our own lives. At times playful, spectacular and touching, we are transported to a world that feels both familiar and wonderstruck. The Snowman is magic.


THE SNOWMAN at the Peacock Theatre

Reviewed on 23rd November 2024

by Lara van Huyssteen

Photography by Tristram Kenton

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

EXIT ABOVE | ★★★★ | November 2024
ΑΓΡΙΜΙ (FAUVE) | ★★★ | October 2024
STORIES – THE TAP DANCE SENSATION | ★★★★★ | October 2024
FRONTIERS: CHOREOGRAPHERS OF CANADA | ★★★★ | October 2024
TUTU | ★★★ | October 2024
CARMEN | ★★★★ | July 2024
THE OPERA LOCOS | ★★★★ | May 2024
ASSEMBLY HALL | ★★★★★ | March 2024
AUTOBIOGRAPHY (v95 and v96) | ★★★ | March 2024
NELKEN | ★★★★★ | February 2024

THE SNOWMAN

THE SNOWMAN

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Starcrossed

Starcrossed

★★★★

Wilton’s Music Hall

Starcrossed

Starcrossed

Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed – 6th June 2022

★★★★

 

“Gethin Alderman relishes the opportunity to show off his versatile speaking voice”

 

This ingenious new play by Rachel Garnet takes on the theme of love but rather than offer up the age-old story of Romeo and Juliet’s star-crossed lovers it runs with the what-if possibility that Romeo’s friend Mercutio and his deadly enemy Tybalt should be struck by the same love arrow. We are given not a new version of R&J but a parallel story, a tale that is there but not explored in Shakespeare’s play. In so doing, we also get a fascinating origin story for Tybalt.

The production looks and sounds Shakespearean. A simple wooden stage (Set & Costume Designer Ruari Murchison) with a central double door and doors on the left and right provide a perfect symmetry and the opportunity for quick and versatile entrances and exits. Garnet’s text incorporates lines from the original alongside her own – drawing audience laughs and sighs of appreciation when recognised – and she deserves huge plaudits that this interpolation doesn’t sound contrived. The cast of three are dressed in doublets and hose with simple accoutrements where required and obligatory rapiers at their sides.

The Player (Gethin Alderman) sets the scene, immediately breaking the fourth wall with knowing looks to the audience and gentle clowning. He will continue to do this during scene changes to remind us we are watching just the telling of a story. He is joined by Mercutio (Connor Delves) and Tybalt (Tommy Sim’aan) for a rousing three-part harmony rendition of the Scottish folk song Twa Corbies and we know our evening is in safe hands.

Philip Wilson’s masterly direction has the three actors skipping light-footedly around the stage and only towards the very end of the piece does their pace and intensity begin to wane. Gethin Alderman relishes the opportunity to show off his versatile speaking voice in the many multi-roles he fulfils: a touch of Prince Charles about Lord Capulet, a smattering of Scottish for the Friar, a bit twee for Paris, and an aggressive Londoner for the beggar Salvatore. The largest laugh of the evening is brought about by his coy falsetto for an appearance of Juliet herself.

The role of the Player ties everything together around the main scenes between the two fateful lovers. Tommy Sim’aan’s war-mongering Tybalt undergoes the biggest journey. Beginning with macho posturing and showing off his fearsome sword play, we hear that maintaining his aggressive reputation is to secure his position within the house of Capulet. It takes a surprising kiss to throw him off guard and we share his confusion as Sim’aan drops the posturing façade and brings his voice down to a velvet undertone. The power of the kiss brings out the Prince of Cat’s inner kitten and has the strength to potentially end a conflict.

That kiss has come from the wastrel Mercutio as a means to distract Tybalt from seeing and therefore fighting with Romeo (another role for The Player). In a dashing red doublet, Delves plays the wine-happy party animal just on the right side of camp. Mercutio is out for a good time and to live for today until that kiss changes his life too.

The occasional song to the strumming of a mandolin lightens the mood as Tybalt and Mercutio strive to find a future. The three actors work superbly together – there is no weak link. Garnet’s poetry is clearly projected and there is no holding back during the raunchy bits either.

Not since Tom Stoppard’s exploration of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern has there been such an audacious rewrite of Shakespearean off-stage antics.

 

Reviewed by Phillip Money

Photography by Pamela Raith

 


Starcrossed

Wilton’s Music Hall until 25th June

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Roots | ★★★★★ | October 2021
The Child in the Snow | ★★★ | December 2021
The Ballad of Maria Marten | ★★★½ | February 2022

 

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