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Thursday, November 20, 2008, 12:08
I AM such a fan of snow that I've seriously reconsidered changing my name to Frosty.
It harps back to the tantalising nature of growing up in Torquay, so close to Dartmoor, and it always snowing on a school days. just to melt away by the weekend.
Capitalising on what seems to be a lot of people's passion for the white stuff is Slava's Snow Show.
It's one-and-a-half-hours of slapstick filled, wonderfully crafted. mute clowning joy.
Think Pingu, and add a blizzard.
From the outset. red-nosed Slava creates a dream like world where logic plays little role and anything can happen.
A bed becomes a boat and a fluffy part of the scenery envelops the audience with it's web.
Apart from the special effects, down on paper it's much of a nothing.
It's the technical ability of the clowning that creates the comedy, turning something as simple as standing up, into a hilarious centrepiece.
The production's famous scene, which puts the audience at the heart of a blizzard, is literally breathtaking, and much more impressive than a similar sequence in the now defunct Lord Of The Rings.
At the end the audience is left to play happily with piles of snow, giant balls and bubbles.
The clowns stay on stage with their miserable faces while the audience tap into their young at heart nature.
Despite the slapstick Slava's not as daft as he looks.
You leave the theatre to choruses of 'What On Earth Was That About' and 'Is That It?'
But everyone, young and old, had such a smile on their faces.
The production plays until tomorrow.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS
JONPAUL HEDGE
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