This is the first yer I have been to Park Theatre’s Christmas show and I was so pleased I finally made it. Park Theatre’s production of The Snow Queen is a that is beautifully creative and sparks the imagination.

The show tells of Gerda, a young girl who goes on a journey to find her friend, Cei who has been taken by the Snow Queen herself and put to work to rebuild her mirror. Along the way Gerda is faced with game playing flowers, a talking reindeer and a blindfolded kiss with a Prince!

The story was a modernised version of the classic tale and it kept the whole of the audience enthralled through all of Gerda’s twists and turns on her journey. Whilst there are moments that could be trimmed as they didn’t really further the story or the message overall this is a charming version of The Snow Queen.

The thing that struck me the most with The Snow Queen was just how many moments throughout it were creative and full of imagination. We saw crocheted flower flower head pieces, a beautifully designed puppet to represent the talking reindeer Bae, an Act 2 which opened with involvement of the audience of a game of pass the beachball and much more.

The cast were all full of bundles of energy with many of them playing a variety of roles within the show. Gerda was played by Ayesha Casely-Hayford who had a lovely balance of tenacity and innocence about her. I also particularly enjoyed the huge variety of characters displayed by Justin Brett who went from Gerda’s strict father and teacher Mr Goodman, to the vain daffodil to the lovable Bea The Reindeer, throughout these characters he had the audience booing for him to falling about with laughter. Brett’s success in these variety of characters however was not unusual in this show and Matt Cavendish, Paula James, Esmonde Cole and Sarah-Louise Young covered another 12 roles between them, all of them easily switching from one to the other and the audience easily followed who they were at that moment in time.

There were a few moments of song and dance however these were the slightly weaker moments, the choreography at times felt a bit awkward and the music felt like odd choices and didn’t sit well with the original, quirky take of the show.

The set, designed by Gregor Donnelly was well thought out. I really enjoyed how Cei was able to use what was already on the set to build up the mirror and the levels across the stage helped differentiate between the Snow Queen’s realm and the relm that Gerda was in.

Park Theatre’s production of The Snow Queen is a wonderful Christmas Show if you are looking for something a bit different for the family. Full of imagination, laughs and heartwarming moments.

To find out more about the Snow Queen and what else is on at The Park Theatre visit their website.

If you like this review you might also like my review of A Christmas Carol at Bridge Theatre, The Showstoppers Christmas Kids Show and White Christmas at Dominion Theatre.