Slava's SnowShow brings Christmas magic to Brighton
One of the best things Vanya Polunin has ever heard said about Slava's SnowShow is that “our snow warms the heart.”
And that's exactly what it will be doing when the SnowShow, which Vanya has been in for 30 years since the age of seven, returns to Brighton for a run at the Theatre Royal from December 11-15. Immerse yourself in a whimsical world, a spellbinding spectacle where laughter and wonder collide.
As Vanya says, it is not a show which deals with current affairs. It is more about the eternal things: “The show is about the basics. It is about the emotions that everybody has. It is about love and loss and fear and hope. It is about these two characters and their journey through the story, and they are feeling the emotions that everybody else feels in their lives and I think that's what brings people closer to the show. People feel that they're not alone when it's talking about loss and when it's talking about the uplifting things. They all enjoy the comedy.
“I have been with it pretty much from the beginning when it started in 1993 or 1994. I remember it being created and being tested, and the first time we performed it abroad was at the Hackney Empire in 1994. I believe I was six or seven.”
The show takes you to a dream-like place where a bed becomes a boat in a storm-tossed sea, a child walks in amazement inside a bubble, a web of unseen cotton envelopes the audience, before a snowstorm whirls around the auditorium, leaving you ankle-deep in snow.
“My dad Slava created the show. The show itself has changed quite a bit since the first time we performed it in London. In the beginning my mum and I had tiny little roles. Since then the show has been continuous. We have done projects that have run in parallel but the show itself keeps going and people keep wanting to see it. For many people it has become a tradition like The Nutcracker coming to their city every Christmas. They want to go and see it and they come along and they bring each new generation. People that met when they first saw the show are now bringing their grandchildren.
“I think it's a combination of things that keeps it going, but the thing that definitely works is that we still have fun as performers even after three decades. If you're not having fun, then the audience is not going to have fun. We still love it. We're still so enthralled. We switch roles every day. Today I'm doing the lead character and tomorrow I'll be doing the back-up character. And we have enough space to improvise. The show is pretty much the same but at the same time every show is new and we manage to keep it a little bit different.”