The Snow Queen Review

The Rose Theatre, Kingston – until 5 January 2020

Reviewed by Carly Burlinge

5*****

The Snow Queen was first published in 1844 by Hans Christian Anderson and has been adapted many times over the years.

Gerda (Parisa Shahmir) who has been protected from the world around her in which Freya (Davina Moon) has had a big part in, until Gerda starts to realise she is different from the others. She feels a power within her hands that is magical and is ready to discover and find out who she really is. She entrusts Kai (Jack Wolfe) who is her closest friend by showing him her magic, but by doing this she exposes her whereabouts to the Snow Queen (Helena Blackman).

As things start to unravel Kai is enticed by the Snow Queen and taken far away to the frozen north leaving Gerda to make the journey herself to rescue her best friend, whilst also trying to save Christmas. This adventure takes Gerda on a enchanting yet dangerous journey of elves, trolls, pirates and a very funny reindeer called Bancu, who really wants to fulfill his dreams.

Can she talk her way through situations to make it to the Frozen North?

This production is well worth a see with Helena Blackman as the Snow Queen giving a very dramatic, harsh and fearful performance with her vicious troll army and her stern and sarcastic voice along with her fabulous glittery outfit and high head piece.

Parisa Shahmir as Gerda was extremely magical on stage and very into her roll giving a strong performance along with her sensational singing voice.

Jack Wolfe as Kai was also fantastic and played  a very effective and convincing role.

All in all this performance was brought together with an amazing set very traditional and festive, the lighting was superb and brought it all together with great sound affects throughout each scene. I loved the way they used the whole theatre by coming through the doors near seated areas, making you feel apart of it. You could tell that the cast had a strong connection which made this a fantastic show which I would highly recommend to watch.