From the opening piano notes of Howard Blake's acclaimed score we're instantly in familiar territory, the music washing over in a wave of nostalgia. Fellow devotees in the audience prickle with expectation. There are few kids' picture books which have captured public imagination quite like The Snowman, and it's a testament to Raymond Briggs that it still beguiles all ages almost forty years on. In the decades since its publication we've seen a classic animated film adaptation – now an essential Christmas Day viewing fixture – and a fluffy 2012 sequel. There's been a video game for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum (no, really) and countless highly collectible (and obscenely expensive) Royal Doulton figurines.
Then there's the stage show. First created in 1993, then updated in 2000, Birmingham Repertory Theatre's production builds further on the foundations of both book and film – which themselves were not quite the same. And that's the big question when it comes to creating an adaptation: how faithful to the original artwork should it be?
As a child of the eighties, I grew up with Dianne Jackson's animated version – an adaptation in its own right, and one that'll always hold a dear place in my heart – but because of this, approaching the live production was a mixture of anticipation, curiosity and apprehension. How do you give your audience something fresh and different without spoiling perfection? (Such existential anguish isn't usually the result of going to watch children's theatre.)
As might be expected (indeed hoped) the REP's show has no dialogue: rather the plot is conveyed via comedic physicality, lavish sets, clever lighting and projections. As the show progresses, balletic dancing becomes more integral to communicating characters' attitudes and relationships to one another, providing an entertaining new approach to the old. (There's an irony in that such energetic dancing in the uncanny snowmen costumes must be incredibly hot work. Hats off to the performers.)
All the most famous and celebrated sequences are in there: trying on different 'noses' in the kitchen; playing dress-up in mum and dad's room; traumatising various woodland creatures by hurtling at them on a motorbike in the snow.
And given that we have more time to play with in the theatre, many sequences are extended. There's a slinky dance with the family cat; we welcome spending more time at the enchanting snowmen's party with open arms – although a surreal interlude involving a pineapple, a banana and a coconut doing the limbo is perhaps a step too far, and the purists may be perplexed by the insertion of a subplot involving 'Jack Frost' and 'the Ice Princess' in the second act, but these additions certainly keep you on your toes. Regardless of how well we think we know what's going to happen, there are always surprises. And that's fun. These extra dimensions and elaborations are what justify translating The Snowman's magic onto the stage.
A delighted ripple of applause echoed around the theatre as our heroes took flight to Walking In The Air. By the end of the story several older members of the audience no longer had dry eyes. But it was a reflection by a little kid behind me that resonated. SPOILER ALERT for the one person out there who doesn't know what happens at the end of The Snowman. (Where have you been?) This future Confucius said, “I'm sad he's dead. But he can build another one.” Definitely. And indefinitely. This bewitching tale has become woven into our national identity. It follows that this loving show will go on thrilling for as long as the snow keeps falling and we still have the inclination to build beautiful things.
The Snowman is at Nottingham's Theatre Royal from Wednesday 27 to Sunday 31 January 2016.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
