The Snowman review: The Peacock Theatre, London
THERE is no escape; the Festive Season is galloping towards us and there is nothing we can do about it.
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Surrender for me is making an annual visit to dance maker Robert North’s The Snowman, playing for 20 consecutive seasons.
The band strikes up, the snowflakes flicker across the front cloth and as the curtain rises you dive straight into designer Ruari Murchison’s ingenious revelation of suburban life.
He shaves the front off the semi where Mum, Dad and The Boy (young Harley Gallacher) live, just as the snow starts to fall. And before you can say plum pudding The Boy is showing his new friend The Snowman (Martin Fenton) around the family home.
The pet cat gets her tail pulled and a Pineapple, a Banana and a Coconut pop out of the fridge – just to say hello, as you do at Christmas – while The Fairy (Tomoyo Tanimoto Jequier) in fondant icing pink, jumps off the Music Box.
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It’s a funny thing about this show, you just can’t wait until the next time
In return The Snowman, who just happens to have a motorbike handy, takes The Boy north to meet the family. The interval approaches with the pair flying aloft and, of course, accompanied by Aled Jones’s gorgeous version of Walking In The Air.
Act two is a joyful celebration of life as a snowman – or woman. I was particularly taken by Scotty Snowman (Freya Field), not to mention the lanky, debonair Fred Astaire Snowman.
How on earth dancer Cameron Bail manages to operate that slick, casual charm in a headto-foot white gorilla costume beats me.
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A couple of penguins bump into things all over the place while Federico Casadei keeps the party going as an energetic Father Christmas. But now we are worrying about that evil and spiky shadow thrown on to the back cloth.
After a big build-up Davide Fienauri’s Jack Frost shows off in his ice blue tights and makes threatening faces at us in the auditorium but we know better: he’s a big softie, really, and we – of all ages – love him to bits.
To finish, a huge full-scale Tango takes place (eat your heart out Strictly) before we arrive back home and the Snowman is just another pile of grubby slush.
But The Boy, and us, will never be the same again. It’s a funny thing about this show, you just can’t wait until the next time.
