THE SNOW QUEEN AT THE JUNCTION
Joey Hickman and Natasha Williams as Kaj and Gerda. Photo - Claire Haigh
This Christmas production is a heart-lifting treat of a show, the perfect antidote to a cold and rainy afternoon down at the Junction.It is full of ingenious movement, uniquely the musicians are also key characters .
Remarkable Ogre Presenter Abayomi Onlyide photographed by Claire Haigh
From the outset the keen ( mostly young) audience was plunged into the crackling frosty world of Nordic myth by a daunting figure. A massive sledge appeared on the open apron stage packed with musicians - atop it, a giant ogre, the basso profondo presenter Abayomi Oniyide. He greeted us ‘People of Cambridge! Former Citizens of the European Union!” And he commanded a fearsome silence as he told the tale of the Snow Queen, of how a mountainous ogre with a special mirror reflected the hidden evil of anyone who looked in it. His sprightly helpers happened to have a fragment of it - the rest had scattered over the earth and it toured the audience in search of anyone brave enough to take that risk. When one volunteer had second thoughts ( the effect , he warned would be permanent - even publicised in the Press) your reviewer offered to take a look. Daring?. The Ogre diagnosed Anger, Negatitivy and worst of all ( silence) Grumpiness. How very true.-how fast can an audience bond with the cast? And in the case of this terrifically original and entertaining show, stay stuck together. throughout ?
Alex Murdoch as Robber Princess and Joey Hickman as Reindeer Photo -Claire Haigh
The story opens with Gerda, ready to play with her friend Kaj a tricky role carried off well by Joey Hickman. Kaj has caught one of the shards of falling glass. Soon he turns into a curmudgeonly cynical Kevin the teenager, and spurns poor Gerda who is left to play alone. When she hears he’s been taken by Snow Queen to the North Pole she begins her epic journey to rescue him - despite his hurtful rejection she stays faithful to the friendship.
On her way, she encounters some extraordinarily talented people. In the true picaresque tradition, many try to waylay her , others help her on her quest. Natasha Williams, as Gerda sustains a convincingly child-like persona. She mingles the intelligence and insight of Alice in her Wonderland and stays morally resolute in the face of adversity. The troubling Yorkshire Flower Witch is such a test of judgment, Played with hilarious intensity by Samantha Sutherland the affable witch invites Gerda to do her own Lotus eating in a flower cottage before the spell is broken and Gerda slips back into the forest with her helpful entourage.
Lovely Gerda played by Natasha Williams
Most surprisingly amusing and certainly creative to encounter, are the Crows. Dressed in mortar boards and academic gowns they caw together to quiz Gerda about her journey. They are all musicians who squawk and crow at the sound ‘Ai’, so Gerda avoids Why? And Sky and even her friend Kaj as that sets them off. In between, they love definition and wit. Many of the cast are crows and for adults they provide the truly hilarious meeting of the child and the adult world - something a Christmas show should do. Parents and grown ups in this production are equally entertained as they should be, and all without disturbing the child quest at the core of its meaning.The Crows’ music, mostly jazz, is quite delightful, all from the pen of Joey Hickman ( Kaj was busy at the North Pole after all).
At the end of the first half, Gerda is stuffed in a sack and adbducted over his shoulder by the self styled ‘handsome stranger’ earlier Ogre, Abayomi Oniyide. And it’s the interval.
So well judged is this show, my two child companions felt no anxiety about this kidnap. They just assumed it would all go well. Which it did with stand out performances from Alex Murdoch as the Robber Princess a strange amalgam of difficult child and underdeveloped adult. Children appeared to understand her. She starred in the next sequence of obstacles to the doughty heroine Gerda. And just when you thought she would never get there, a hugely funny and convincing reindeer appears ( the robber Princess’s pet) and gives the journey massive boost all the way tp the door of the Finnish Woman and her sauna a role played wonderfully by Stephanie Mueller who manages to pull off whole sequences in Finnish - and finally emerges as a very beautiful Snow Queen herself.
The choreography of the play is genius, hats off to Kasia Zaremba Byrne and the lighting director Trui Malten executed by engineers Luke Webb and Tim Powers who have us looking to the stars and then down through the clouds to a snow covered earth.
If you have the ‘cept you have to go to this thrilling show as soon as you can. It was packed the afternoon I was there and deservedly will storm the Christmas show season with its refreshing cerebral but hugely authentic message. Director Alex Byrne and his Assistant Robyn Olivia deserve all the plaudits they have garnered already for an afternoon of magical entertainment and originality, seldom have I seen such a fascinating show hold the balance of interest between the world of childhood and grown-ups.Part Alice part Odyssey, this is a finely scripted, wonderfully orchestrated delight of a play destined to last long into the future with its modest hope art ‘friends help each other when they can’. Quite right too.
An Amazing Ensemble Orchestra
