"Now for most adults, ‘snow’ has become a four letter word that has fallen out of favour. But if each new bout of ‘adverse weather conditions’ leaves the grown-ups scunnered, the white stuff in all its forms - even greying slush - has an endless fascination for tots. Mr Snow would probably want to recruit these wee enthusiasts to join him in his profession: he’s a snowologist, a kind of David Attenborough of the polar wastes who seeks out different species of snow to record and classify.
Mind you - there is an Important Exam to pass, before you can pin on the official badge and go snow-collecting. Blessyou - Mr Snow’s son - has already failed this test. Maybe because he’s a bit harum-scarum, apt to fall into day-dreaming about adventures in space as well as in snow and a little bit disobedient as well. So when he’s told, absolutely, not to touch a certain kind of snow...Oops! Despite some little voices raised in earnest warning, Blessyou not only uses up all the magic snow - creating a fabulous light show that also brings inanimate objects on stage to life - he decides to go out, alone, and find some more. If writer and director Rob Evans fills the first part of Mr Snow with ingenious fun - who would have thought there were so many tricksy kinds of snow? - he moves into riskier, darker territory when an exhausted Blessyou (Steven Rae) lies down in the freezing snow and doesn’t move. The life-affirming force here isn’t just the special magic snow, it’s the unconditional love of a father (Kieran Fay’s Mr Snow) who won’t give up looking for his son. Dads in the audience did some throat-clearing at this point. The production is full of lovely whimsical touches, with Claire Halleran’s intriguingly cluttered set a treasure-trove of lateral thinking - for instance, a half-buried wardrobe is the door, while a wall of transparent storage bags lights up for shadow-puppet sequences of dashing sleigh-rides." Mary Brennan, The Herald, ****
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Thom Dibden in the Stage liked the show. I like the show too. It's looking great. Photos to follow soon, I hope.
Mr Snow Published Wednesday 15 December 2010 at 15:36 by Thom Dibdin Providing plenty of contextual puns and visual delights for adults, Rob Evans’ Mr Snow is a treat that will best please the upper end of its target audience of three to five year olds. Big in ideas and long in invention, this event-filled adventure bursts with comedy, flickers with magic and even toys with the potential death of a character. Steven Rae is entrancing as Blessyou, who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps as a snowologist, but would rather fish for fish-fingers through the ice than study for his exams. Kieran Fay has an endearingly precise manner as the father Mr Snow, who spends his time wandering the snow fields around the distant home, collecting jars of snow and bringing them back to analyse. The exploration of the different kinds of snow - elephant, fat or lightening - is on exactly the right level for the audience members. Some of the visual gags are a bit over their heads, however. Claire Halleran’s surreal, inventive set combines household goods - an upturned washing machine is the ice hole, while a wardrobe on its back makes the horizontal door out of their home - with tiny screens for shadow puppetry relation of some of the external scenes. Danny Krass’ spiky, electronic music evokes just the right level of danger and sparkle. |
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