To make up a bit for this year’s warm and mostly dry winter, Cambrian Players brought a much-loved winter fairy tale to its stage: The Snow Queen, originally by Hans Christian Andersen.
Directed by Jessica Graham, the play takes a more light-hearted approach to the classic story, but doesn’t shy away from having its characters face tragedy and sorrow.
The story centres around Gerda and her friend, Cei, as they experience the struggle between good and evil. The story flowed well and had audiences excited for whatever would come next, though the end did feel a little anticlimactic with how much build up there was throughout the play.
The set was intricate, well crafted, and did a great job at showing the changing of seasons along Gerda’s journey. The play also used light and sound well in selling the scene.
The Snow Queen featured 13 cast members with quite a few stand out performances.
The titular Snow Queen was played by Cara O’Brien who has seemingly mastered the ability to dominate the stage, even when her character is silent in the background.
Dani Winters played Gerda and had a solid first quarter of the play with a powerful performance right before her journey began. Unfortunately, she was overshadowed during much of the rest of the play.
Teoman Amishev played Cei well and did a splendid job of portraying the character's changing personality including an incredible split-second switch from a happy-go-lucky boy to a cold and unfeeling young man. He also stood out well as Prince Fred when Gerda visited the Land of Summer.
Another actor who really stood out was Charlotte Johnson, who played three side characters that Gerda meets along the way. Her characters stole the show in many scenes. I don’t think I’ve ever related so much to a flower as I did to Johnson’s Snowdrop.
Keeping up with the theme of side characters really shining in this play, Austin Campbell, who reports for Newswatch, also played three characters, including an exceptionally hilarious narcissistic daffodil, and an old reindeer who really stepped up to help Gerda.
Overall, the play had great comedic timing. The actors were not afraid to embrace hard emotions. It was very accessible for the whole audience. The art direction was amazing with such intricate sets and well-formed costumes. The play wasn’t quite as polished as one would like it to be but it more than made up for it in heart.
Catching up after the opening performance, Jessica Graham, the director, said the show’s first night was miraculous.
“The first night was great. Seeing the cast light up by having an audience is just a magical experience,” she said. “They really gave it 120 per cent by feeding off of the audience and you can tell they’re having a lot of fun.”
I would highly recommend that those who have the chance to catch this show during its fairly short run time, take it.
8/10
