As a lifelong Hans-Christian Andersen listener and reader, I am keen to join as many stage interpretations of my favourite fairy tale as I can, and am therefore very excited to visit Wimbledon’s Polka Theatre for the first time. It is a venue dedicated to productions for children which has been based here since 1979. On the other side of London, another stage adaptation of Andersen’s The Snow Queen however is staged this very weekend at Wilton’s Music Hall, and yet another will be staged in Russian at The Cockpit: The story is a timeless, epic, female-led winter quest after all, taking those with open minds through seasons, memories and other wonders.
This new production, staged 179 years after the novella’s first publication, does not take the literature template for gospel though: If you are a keen reader and came here for the robber’s daughter, the reindeer or the Sami women you might curb your enthusiasm just now – but if you are open to embrace the subtle, updated emphasis on toxic microplastics thrown from space by a hangry troll king with a propeller crown, and fascinated by flora, self-absorbed in puberty or menopause, you are in for a treat. My companions have not read the Andersen fairy tale and yet we are all celebrating these characters, our favourite being a Ramones T-shirt wearing grandma with an attitude (and as Wilton’s was mentioned already, I have seen actor Paula James’ infectious grin exactly there last November in The Wind In The Willows). Another favourite we agree on are the pun-savvy narrating trees, honouring the original’s chapter, ahem, crystallisation structure.
The focus on the Polka Theatre’s production is rather on Kai and Gerda’s life before she needs to save him from the fangs of an icy power he has fallen for rather than her journey. It is a play about how growing up is no fun, and even less when you grow up at a different pace than your peers, and your best friend in particular. It is a mean time in everyone’s life, no doubt, especially when small town gossip is the source of all evil. And it is a hard lesson realising that life at the perfect place is not as vanilla as everyone pretends it is. Yes, the Snow Queen herself gets an origin story and even a happy end, and a very empathetic one which warms the heart of those fairy tale enthusiast like me holding Andersen’s archaic personification of coldness highly.
With a quality soundtrack worth its own playlist I did not expect in a children’s theatre (poppy, yet never annoying) and excitingly lit industrial tubes as poles which serve fabulously as blades of grass and icicles at the same time, with inspiring knit wear, glitter bombs and fog machine, this tale is indeed an adventure I am glad I have not missed. I also already pencilled in some dates for some of Polka’s further productions next summer; theirs is an exciting 2024 line-up for everyone reading out kids’ books with lots of pictures, and after all this venue prides itself to invite a very young audience because here is “where theatre begins”. About The Snow Queen, my 8 and 10 year old review assistants agree immediately: Five stars! The girls have spoken: Five stars for The Snow Queen it is.
***** out of 5 stars
Written by Jude Christian after the fairy tale by Hans-Christian Andersen, directed by Emma Baggott
The Snow Queen ran until 21 January ’24, tickets from £10
Sadie takes the Stage 