Showing posts with label Snow Queen Theater Productions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snow Queen Theater Productions. Show all posts

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Other Theatrical Snow Queen Productions (Pt 5): Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theater

And now for something completely different: an adrenalin-pumped acrobatic & flying Snow Queen spectacular, by Irish company Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theater (don't you love that name?)

While the aesthetic seems harsh initially, I have a feeling it would work really well live. Doesn't it seem as if Cirque Du Soleil went to the Winter Olympics to play out their latest fairy tale there? Such a unique take - and it works, fairy tale magic intact and everything. This would be a perfect year to see this production, though unfortunately I can't see any indication that it's been performed since 2011.



Wow - does that look like a giant shoe to you too? Was that intentional??
Fidget Feet's most recent production (Dec 2013) was The Elves & the Shoemaker, which I will have to look up again when photos become available, but they also did an aerial take on Red Riding Hood call Catch Me.

Looks like a company to keep an eye on, especially with regard to unique interpretations of fairy tales.

(Stay tuned for one last theatrical production in this recent retelling roundup.)

Friday, January 17, 2014

Other Theatrical Snow Queen Productions (Pt 4): Rose Theater (with Su Blackwell's Lovely Sets)

Next up: the production you've probably heard about (especially if you've been a regular reader of the blog for a few years and saw this post HERE): Rose Theater's The Snow Queen production, using designs by the amazing fairy tale paper artist Su Blackwell.

I heard a lot of great things about the design, less so about the production itself unfortunately. I wish I could find some better sources to cite some different views from but here's the best I found:

A brief excerpt from an atypically brief review in The Guardian (who's reviews and articles I generally respect a lot):
There is a great deal to charm here, especially in Su Blackwell's cutout paper designs, which conjure fairytale forests and winking houses. The comedy is good, too, particularly in a scene in which Gerda encounters a Hooray Henry wedding party. But the show is often at its best when it sticks closely to Andersen's original rather than veering off into a story of the changing seasons at war with each other; and although Natascha Metherell's production has its moments of frosty magic, it doesn't quite generate the emotional power that it should.
An excerpt from British Theater Guide:
Here, the story of a young girl, Gerda, and her quest to save her friend Cei from the clutches of the evil Snow Queen, who plans to cloak the world in a perpetual winter, plays out on an attractive set by Su Blackwell, an artist making a first, distinguished foray into theatre design with this production. Each stage of Gerda’s journey through the seasons has a very particular look and tone, the mood enhanced by excellent music composed by Alex Silverman, with fiddle, accordion and guitar giving the production a beguiling folk spirit.
A standout sequence transports Gerda through the ice to arrive at the cottage of the sorceress Mrs D, the first of the transformative encounters on her quest. The most surprising episode moves us into a world of gap-year toffs and teen-speak: it breaks the mood, but features a very funny performance from Sian Robins-Grace as a decidedly modern teen princess.
...Overall, The Snow Queen skirts deep enchantment in this incarnation. But it’s a classy and enjoyable production that offers many delights.
And finally excerpts of additional information about the production, along with review opinion from Exeunt Magazine:
The set alone is a source of wonder. Paper artist, Su Blackwell, in her first design project for the stage has created a delicate, wintry world of trees, cottages and lampposts that appear to have been snipped from the pages of a paperback. Black lettering nests against white, making an apt and charming backdrop for Charles Way’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy story.Young Gerda is a nervy girl, prone to panic attacks and terrified of her bad-tempered schoolmaster father, Mr Overskou. When her classmates take turns to dance in front of one another, she can’t bring herself to join in and her best friend Cei has to calm her down. Though Cei and Gerda have been friends and playmates all their lives, Mr Overskou disapproves of the boy’s dreamy ways and forbids them to see one another; it is then that Cei falls under the Snow Queen’s spell. A shard of mirror pierces his heart and he becomes cold and cruel before being whisked off to the Queen’s winter palace and forced to piece together the shattered fragments of her magic mirror. But though the townspeople believe Cei to have drowned, Gerda refuses to accept this and sets off to find him.
If anything Natascha Metherell’s production is too gentle and sedate....What’s missing, despite all its considerable polish, is any real emotional tug or genuine sense of peril; it’s all a little too neat and tidy and lacks the wild fringes of the best children’s theatre.
I'm not quite sure what to think of this one, apart from the lovely set design (which I insta-love). Did anyone know anyone who actually saw this?

More Snow Queen theatrics coming so stay tuned!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Other Theatrical Snow Queen Productions (Pt 3): Sherman Cymru


Next on my theatrical variations of The Snow Queen list this week, is Sherman Cymru's The Snow Queen. I only found one actual production photo and a promo video, but the set designs by Chloe Lamford are just gorgeous!

I like the poster too, by Savage & Gray Design

More behind the scenes than anything else on this one but take a look at how lovely these are. Each image and set is like a postcard (I just wish I could find a larger images of each one so I could take a better look):
There's a video promo too, which I would not have known was related had it not been linked. Considering it most definitely IS part of this same production I'm very intrigued:
Sherman Cymru is currently winning awards for his/their unique approach to theater production and I have to say, from the little I can find image-wise for this one, my interest is definitely piqued.

The Snow Queen production elements and images shown here were from 2009 (I think). I will admit I'm a little vague on exactly how this production works. The blurb calls it an "Audio Described Performance", except there were most definitely actors, sets and the whole nine yards of production, so, apart from perhaps using a narrator, I'm a little in the dark as to what this means...

There's much more  - very different - Snow Queen on stage coming your way, so keep checking back... :)

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Other Theatrical Snow Queen Productions (Pt 2): Bonstelle & the ART (American Repertory Theater)

Continuing the recent-and-varied theatrical takes on HCA's Snow Queen round-up, a show that transforms on stage and includes the audience in the telling. Bonstelle Theater's The Snow Queen is an ambitious production with a lot of element to juggle (and a perfect production for serious theater majors to sink their teeth into).

Here are some interesting notes from the Guest Director, Allegra Libonati of The American Repertory Theater (which is where the production was first staged):
There are many elements of The Snow Queen that I found deeply compelling. I was drawn to the incredible landscapes where the story takes place. We travel from a tiny rose garden, all the way to the snow queen palace at the North Pole, surrounded by the Northern Lights. This captured my imagination. I was also really moved by Hans Christian Andersen’s life story. He was told by his mother, after his father died, that the Snow Queen had taken his father away. Later in his life, he created a story of two best friends who are separated by The Snow Queen. We watch as little Gerda, through her blind faith and deep devotion, is able to find Kai at the end of the earth, and save his life. I think there is a deep message in this show, embedded in a fantastical and spectacular world.
My vision for this production was inspired by the experience of listening to a story, and allowing it to transform the world around you. The show begins in a magical attic where a group of children have gathered to hear a story. As the story unfolds, beds become snow drifts, sheets become blizzards, a wagon becomes the boat. The world around you transforms into the locations and characters of the story. The audience is integral to the show.  When you arrive, you create a paper rose and a snow flake, and are asked to help Gerda along the way using these elements.
The production was staged by Bonstelle Theater (Wayne State University's Undergraduate Theater Company) in December 2012. There are tons more photos if you follow the links.
As a bonus, below are some images from the original ART (American Repertory Theater) performances which show great similarities but also great differences:
This professional production also called for audience participation and looks quite delightful.

Many more theatrical Snow Queen posts are lined up to explore some very unique productions, so keep checking back.