The Snowflake at Birmingham Rep - Review
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Thu 05 Dec 2024 - Sun 12 Jan 2025
With the main house in The Rep dedicated to a show aimed at audiences ages 12+, the theatre has given over the smaller Door space to this charming tale for small children.
Based on the book by Benji Davis and adapted and directed by Matt Aston, The Snowflake tells two parallel stories – one of the young Noelle and her family as they prepare for Christmas and some big changes and the other a tale told by Noelle’s Pappie on the creation and coming to the land of a snowflake.
It’s a simple story but wrapped up in the narratives is the strength of family, finding your own place in the world and the magic of both nature and Christmas.
Aimed at three to six-year-olds, the show is quite heavy on conversation and less on action and humour which can make it difficult to keep youngsters of this age hooked but there are some lovely moments in which audience members of all ages are entranced.
Layla Mehay-Bennett is a generous-souled Noelle who adores her Pappie and his stories and is keen to bring the spirit of Christmas alive. Heidi Goldsmith swaps back and forth between Noelle’s mum and granddad, capturing the different essence of each.
Laura McEwan’s set makes good use of the space and, together with lighting by Jonathan Chan, brings plenty of colour into the production plus the snowflakes and clouds are a lot of fun. Oliver James Hymans’ Fozzie the dog puppet is great – especially when he wanders into the audience to meet some of the children. And the music by Julian Butler includes a couple of catchy songs.
I hate to say it but I wonder if the cast would benefit from wearing microphones though as, certainly at the show I was at, there was a lot of noise from the audience which at times risks drowning out the actor’s voices.
At 50 minutes long, this is an ideal introduction to theatre for young children with a story which is largely easy to follow, likeable characters and some nice theatrical touches.
The Snowflake plays The Door at The Rep until 12 January, see
here for more information and tickets.
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299122 - 2024-12-09 15:20:10