Dance
The Snow Queen
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Mary Brennan
five stars
Like Gerda - determined to rescue her beloved Kai from the Snow Queen - so Scottish Ballet has defied the tribulations of pandemics and lockdowns to keep the company creatively alive and dancing. After three years without a Christmas ballet on-stage, this (slightly tweaked) revival of The Snow Queen is a thrilling reminder of how artistic director Christopher Hampson and his whole team - technicians included - conjure up meaningful story-telling.
Yes, there is a happy ending, but en route there is a destructive darkness to how the Snow Queen reclaims her wayward sister, the Summer Princess aka Lexi (Alice Kawalek). The lives and loves of mere mortals, like Kai and Gerda, are simply collateral damage, with Kai becoming an ice-bound hostage to the lonely Queen. Hampson’s choreography uses this chilling context to highlight the recognisable solace we all find in love, friendship - and joyfully bright entertainments like the circus that comes to a grey, industrial town.
Conflicted emotions and loyalties underscore what ensues. Kai is spirited away by the Snow Queen, leaving Gerda (Roseanna Leney) expressively bereft.The action moves to a Travellers camp, where the Rimsky-Korsakov music sparks dance that swaggers and spins with flamboyant energy - enhanced on-stage by solo violinist, Gillian Risi.
Then on, through a swirl of Snowflakes, Jackfrosts and Snow Wolves to the shimmering Ice Palace where Kai (Jerome Barnes) is in thrall to the Snow Queen (a truly commanding Constance Devernay-Laurence).
The ending has, however, been revised and is now more nuanced and poetic. A reconciled Snow Queen and Summer Princess melt into the cosmos and Kai re-awakens to find faithful Gerda beside him… Tender, reassuring and, like the entire production, superbly danced with the Scottish Ballet Orchestra bringing sympathetic colour to the score. It’s the festive family treat we’ve been longing for!
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