Theatre reviews: The Snow Queen | Baltic

The Snow Queen, Perth Theatre ★★★★★

Baltic, Cumbernauld Theatre ★★★

The Perth pantomime has tackled some controversial subjects in recent years; there was the one about beavers in the Tay, and then last year’s Mother Goose riff on the aggressive factory farming of geese.

This year, though, the focus is entirely on fast-paced storytelling and laugh-a-minute family fun, as Perth’s brilliant writer, director and dame Barrie Hunter and his fine team roll out a joyful version of The Snow Queen that never misses a beat, in its irresistible combination of music, fun and spectacle.

The story is set in the imaginary Perthshire village of Upper Doonachan, where the winter weather is unseasonably warm when a sudden blast of icy air arrives, frightening young chums McKay and Gerda - played with spirit by Stuart Edgar and Nina Gray - and reminding Gerda’s gran Frannie McMannie of a scary tale from long ago.

From the moment Frannie first enters - carrying bags of provisions for her tea-and-cake shop from her favourite stores Yaldi and Pidl - it’s clear that she is the driving force behind the story, as well as the heart and soul of the show’s powerful and perfectly-timed elements of audience participation; and that this year, Barrie Hunter is absolutely in his element, playing a loving but slightly hapless Perthshire granny in a truly fabulous range of costumes by designer Becky Minto.

In no time, Lauren Ellis-Steele’s wicked and magnificently-voiced Snow Queen has driven an ice splinter into McKay’s eye, and spirited him off to her palace at the far North Pole; and although his chum Gerda is the first to set off to rescue him, Frannie is not far behind, urged on her way by a very funny Ewan Somers as McKay’s would-be thespian brother Larry, and by the truly hilarious Gretel McPetal, a local teenage online influencer played to perfection by Julia Murray.

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Add a series of exhilarating song-and-dance numbers brilliantly choreographed by assistant director Chris Stuart Wilson, fine musical arrangements by Alan Penman delivered by “Auntie” Linda Stewart and her impressive three-piece band, and a fabulously funny and talented team of young performers playing everything from woodland animals to a garden of flowers, and you have a panto that assembles all the traditional festive ingredients, and simply cooks them up to perfection. Or at least, this hugely gifted team makes it looks simple; when in fact, creating a panto as fast-moving and endlessly entertaining as this is one of the most difficult challenges in theatre, and perhaps the most exhilarating, when it all comes absolutely right.

There’s also plenty to celebrate this weekend at Cumbernauld Theatre, which has just been rescued from possible closure by a newly-announced funding package from the Scottish Government, with added support from Creative Scotland project funds. And the warm mood continues in the theatre’s main auditorium at Lanternhouse, as the audience urges on young Elspeth - heroine of Jerry Taylor’s Baltic, a cheeky 21st panto version Snow Queen story - in her quest to save twin brother Kay from the Snow Queen’s clutches.

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Produced by Taylor’s Ayrshire-based company Ginger and Jester - and featuring some lovely backdrops and gauzes by designer Iona Gray - Baltic is, in truth, a modest and slightly confusing take on the story, which hints early on that Elspeth is a future Snow Queen herself, but makes very little of her nascent magical powers. In the meantime, though, the show features plenty of laughs, audience participation and panto set-pieces, mainly orchestrated by Jerry Taylor himself as daft laddie Sammy Slush, with some help from Alex Robertson as Dame Agnes Avalunch.

Lauren O’Hare sings beautifully as Elspeth, as does Abbie Watson as a not-very frightening local Snow Queen; and Abbie Watson also offers some gorgeous, elegant choreography involving young local dancers - including as smart and heartfelt a finale version of this year’s big panto hit Golden as you’ll see anywhere, in this year’s Scottish pantosphere.

The Snow Queen is at Perth Theatre until 31 December; Baltic is at Cumbernauld Theatre at Lanternhouse until 24 December.

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