Slavas Snowshow at the Royal Festival Hall Review
Slava’s Snowshow
Royal Festival Hall, London
17 December 2013 – 6 January 2014
Reviewed by Peter Kirchem
It’s not that I’m a slow writer… it’s just that it’s taken me 2 whole days to decide whether I enjoyed seeing Slava’s Snowshow or not. It’s a strange kind of experience, and so if I can write quite truthfully, that I have never seen anything like it before, then I suppose it must have been good. And it was. But then anything the Festival Hall put on as their Christmas entertainment has, almost by definition, got to be good… they have to pull in the punters.
Unfortunately this is not an original observation, but Slava’s Snowshow is to mime what Cirque to Soleil is to acrobats. Having seen both I must admit to preferring the tension and drama of Cirque du Soleil, but if I were a child or an adult with a vivid and somewhat romantic imagination I think I might prefer Slava’s Snowshow.
Originating from a remote corner of Russia, Slava’s Snowshow is the brainchild of 63 year old Slava Polunin. He must be doing something right as it is almost unchanged since its inception in 1993, travelling the world with his small team of fellow mime artists and clowns, delighting audiences in major theatre venues the world over. A friend of mine tells me she saw it in Brisbane almost 15 years ago.
Don’t expect a storyline here – and it is largely that fact that made me dither about whether I had enjoyed it or not – which means you are left watching a series of unconnected mime sketches most of which have to do with snow.
Mime and Clowns have not always sat comfortably with the English. We do not have the same attachment to its abstract format than say the French who had Marcel Marceau or the Swiss and Italians who had Dimitri – a mime artist I used to love with a passion when I was a child living in Switzerland – and it is maybe my particular love of mime which pushed me towards enjoying this rather than holding me back in my seat, as I am afraid were quite a few grownups – probably Festival Hall stalwarts – with a disdainful ‘what the heck am I watching here’ look on their faces. It’s not for everyone, and had I gone on my own without the infectious enthusiasm of a child I took along with me I wonder whether I would have come out so happy.
There is audience participation too, but mainly for those paying the exorbitant prices in the front 10 rows, with the artists climbing over the seats and collapsing into the audience. At one point a huge white spider’s web the size of the auditorium is handed back through the audience – quite hard work actually! – and the last 15 minutes consists of huge plastic multi coloured balls being flipped languidly above the audience’s head. Enjoyable, but if you’re sitting in the cheap seats expect to get up and go and join the affluent front rowers who if they’re nice and kind will let you join in and play. My young companion was most disappointed to be on the periphery of the action…
So yes, go see this but go with an open mind. It is not pantomime and it has no real structure. There are moments of great charm – Polunin having a one armed Aznavour moment with a coat stand! – there are lots of brilliant mime moments – facial portrayals of happy and sad almost at the same time, amusing walks and even a little tear jerking pathos – but also I’m afraid a few moments of utter boredom.
Whatever you do, take a child or 3, leave your preconceptions of Witches and Pantomime Dames at home and enjoy it. And if, like me, you are lucky enough to go when a young child near the front roars with unrestrained glee at every movement any of the artists make, taking the whole audience with him, you’re in for a treat!
Slava’s Snowshow has been on a 3 month UK tour and is on at the Festival Hall until early in the New Year.
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £20 to £65 (plus £1.75 booking fee).
For more information or to book tickets click here.
