A Small Mind At The Theatre

After spending the Christmas season watching three pantomimes and the magnificent Chrismassy feel of The Lorax in London, I finally managed to make my way to the Royal for their very traditional Christmas play. This year was The Snow Queen; the reverse co-production from Nuffield, Southampton where Merlin had this year headed. Adapted by Georgia Pritchett from the Hans Christian Anderson tale (the film Frozen to the modern audience), it tells the tale of The Snow Queen losing her baby to a troll. Leaving the only way to regain the babe by getting another child to go through an evil mirror. Kai her first attempt fails as the child must go willingly, however perhaps his childhood friend Gerda might just be what the evil Queen wants, as the child must travel willingly to the Snow Palace, and that she does to rescue her friend. The setting up of the story comes in the opening few minutes of the play via our Queen (Caroline Head) and a cleverly realised and evil sounding troll. So evil ...

The 39 Steps by John Buchan is to many a remarkably familiar tale. Even if you haven't read the relatively slight book, you will almost certainly have seen one of the numerous versions of the tale Whether your Richard Hannay was Robert Donat's 1935 version or Rupert Penry-Jones' version in 2008 or somewhere in between, a play perhaps needed to do something different. Patrick Barlow's version at the Criterion sure does something different and nine years after its debut at the theatre is still packing them in, my Tuesday viewing left little room for many more patrons. It is however soon to end though as the Laurence Olivier and double Tony Award winner is to finish in September. The play by Barlow is adapted from an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon which was first performed in Richmond, North Yorkshire in 1995. That concept is for a no holds barred physical comedy version of the spy story with the clever idea of just four actors playing all of the part...