The Snow Queen Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh 25th November 2023 Review
The Snow Queen is at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until 31st December, and this classic winter tale by Hans Christian Andersen has been adapted to a very Edinburgh story line set in the late Victorian period by Morna Young.
This Snow Queen is not perfect, but it has a lot going for it and has obviously had a sizeable production budget and a lot of attention to historical detail. We know the time frame we are in as in one scene a train journey on the newly opened Forth Bridge (1890) is in progress, and designer Emily James has taken great care with her costume designs here with The Snow Queen’s tailored military style outfit being very much of the period.
Good set design is very much a feature of this production and setting this story in the late Victorian period in a theatre that opened in 1883 works perfectly. The idea of recreating that wonderful balcony of the theatre and extending it into the stage merges the two spaces together to give us a feeling of being part of the Snow Queen’s world. Very subtle and well used images projected onto the back of the stage also tell their own story when needed. Effective lighting design by Lizzie Powell also adds much to the atmospheric feel of this sugar-coated fantasy Edinburgh.
With a Victorian Edinburgh and a winter fantasy world set on stage (the two work well in this space) the cast have the perfect creative space to work in, and Claire Dargo is very good as the villainous Snow Queen who wants to overcome the goddess of spring and reign the world herself in an eternal winter. Claire Dargo has some wonderful one-liners in this show but always seems to know just when not to step too far into pantomime territory.
The decision by Morna Young to take the opportunity of this Scottish setting for the Snow Queen and interweave her story with the old Celtic legends of Beira, Queen of the Winter, and the Blue Hag worked well here and added to the atmosphere of this being a part of local mythology.
This is, for me, one of the problems with this production – it does not seem to know whether it is a classic gothic winter fairy tale or a festive pantomime for the young and old with the usual double entendres coming thick and fast, particularly from Hamish the Unicorn (Richard Conlon). The idea that many young children would actually love a purely gothic story seems to have been overlooked here. Having said that though, there was a lot of laughter from the children in the stalls tonight (where most of them seemed to be sitting), but that laughter seemed to be stopping at the circle seats. Some of the scenes here also seemed to go on too long with little being added to the larger narrative, at times actually slowing down what is otherwise a well-paced story-line
Our two principal characters Kei (Sebastian Lim-Seet) and Gerda (Rosie Graham) work well together here and there is a believable friendship between the two of them. It is though Rosie Graham as Gerda who has to take on so much of the storytelling here as she is the link between nearly all of the scenes on her quest to save her friend and defeat the Snow Queen. Of course, as usual, the villain of this story the Snow Queen gets to steal most of their scenes together. This though is where the story cleverly asks questions about why the Snow Queen is so evil; could she be a victim too?
Good supporting roles from Anthony Strachan, Naomi Stirrat, and Wendy Seagar. Again though the villainous Corbie (crow) played by Samuel Pashby is a scene stealer.
The Snow Queen has new music and songs too by Finn Anderson (composer and sound designer) and a skilful use of period and contemporary music works well here.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This Snow Queen is not perfect, but it has a lot going for it and has obviously had a sizeable production budget and a lot of attention to historical detail. We know the time frame we are in as in one scene a train journey on the newly opened Forth Bridge (1890) is in progress, and designer Emily James has taken great care with her costume designs here with The Snow Queen’s tailored military style outfit being very much of the period.
Good set design is very much a feature of this production and setting this story in the late Victorian period in a theatre that opened in 1883 works perfectly. The idea of recreating that wonderful balcony of the theatre and extending it into the stage merges the two spaces together to give us a feeling of being part of the Snow Queen’s world. Very subtle and well used images projected onto the back of the stage also tell their own story when needed. Effective lighting design by Lizzie Powell also adds much to the atmospheric feel of this sugar-coated fantasy Edinburgh.
With a Victorian Edinburgh and a winter fantasy world set on stage (the two work well in this space) the cast have the perfect creative space to work in, and Claire Dargo is very good as the villainous Snow Queen who wants to overcome the goddess of spring and reign the world herself in an eternal winter. Claire Dargo has some wonderful one-liners in this show but always seems to know just when not to step too far into pantomime territory.
The decision by Morna Young to take the opportunity of this Scottish setting for the Snow Queen and interweave her story with the old Celtic legends of Beira, Queen of the Winter, and the Blue Hag worked well here and added to the atmosphere of this being a part of local mythology.
This is, for me, one of the problems with this production – it does not seem to know whether it is a classic gothic winter fairy tale or a festive pantomime for the young and old with the usual double entendres coming thick and fast, particularly from Hamish the Unicorn (Richard Conlon). The idea that many young children would actually love a purely gothic story seems to have been overlooked here. Having said that though, there was a lot of laughter from the children in the stalls tonight (where most of them seemed to be sitting), but that laughter seemed to be stopping at the circle seats. Some of the scenes here also seemed to go on too long with little being added to the larger narrative, at times actually slowing down what is otherwise a well-paced story-line
Our two principal characters Kei (Sebastian Lim-Seet) and Gerda (Rosie Graham) work well together here and there is a believable friendship between the two of them. It is though Rosie Graham as Gerda who has to take on so much of the storytelling here as she is the link between nearly all of the scenes on her quest to save her friend and defeat the Snow Queen. Of course, as usual, the villain of this story the Snow Queen gets to steal most of their scenes together. This though is where the story cleverly asks questions about why the Snow Queen is so evil; could she be a victim too?
Good supporting roles from Anthony Strachan, Naomi Stirrat, and Wendy Seagar. Again though the villainous Corbie (crow) played by Samuel Pashby is a scene stealer.
The Snow Queen has new music and songs too by Finn Anderson (composer and sound designer) and a skilful use of period and contemporary music works well here.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com