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Proteus present The Snow Queen written
by Hans Christian Anderson performed
by Proteus Theatre Company 13th December
2008
Saturday 13
December saw professional theatre come to King’s Somborne in the shape of the
Proteus touring theatre company and their production of The Snow Queen. Proteus set their version of the Hans
Christian Andersen fairy tale on a wartime station where two evacuees are
waiting to be collected. The
stationmaster finds the two friends waiting on the platform and the action
moves into the lost property office – which becomes the set for the rest of
the play. The stationmaster entertains
the children while they wait to be collected by telling them a story – the
story of the Snow Queen. The cast of
four then set out to tell the tale of how Kay is abducted by the Snow Queen
after a splinter from a magic mirror gets into his eye, and the adventures of
his friend Gerda as she sets out to rescue him from the Snow Queen. The cast of four take numerous parts as
Gerda travels to the Snow Queen’s palace. Proteus used a
simple set and the imagination of the audience to create mountains, forests,
rivers, caves and palaces. As the
saying has it “radio is much better than television – the pictures are so
much better”. At one point, Gerda
swims across a river with a long piece of cloth being waved up and down to
represent the river. It was
surprisingly effective, including Gerda nearly drowning and some solo
synchronised swimming! You really had
to be there, words alone cannot do justice to the performance. This is the third time that I’ve seen
Proteus in the Village Hall and each performance has been very
enjoyable. If you get a chance to see
them elsewhere, then do so. Otherwise,
wait until the next time they come to the village and make sure that you come
along. review written for the Gauntlet by David
Haydon |
