Almost every member of the audience became involved with the performance at some point; brushing snow off their clothes, pulling cobwebs from their hair, dodging water sprays or playing with the giant balloons that bounced around the auditorium during the finale. Slava’s Snowshow gives a whole new meaning to audience participation.

Since the show’s inception in 1993 by Slava Polunin it has toured the world, delighting audiences with Slava appearing as Assissai in many of the productions.
The show is a series of scenes featuring a cast of clowns. Slava and his partner Artem are dressed in oversized yellow jumpsuits while all the others are in dark green long coats with strangely large and flapping ears and very elongated feet.

They squabble over props, are frightened of noises and want to be noticed in a series of actions that rely on body language, facial expressions and movement. Although all performers were excellent, particular mention should be made of Artem Zhino whose facial mobility and physicality won over the audience from the first he appeared on the stage. The general feeling was of the clowns finding the child in all of us.

For sheer inventiveness, amusement and surprises there is nothing to touch it. Beginning with a storm of sound and colour the clowns arrive as if from a spaceship through swirling smoke, and from two little yellow clowns to the final blinding snowstorm we are treated to a range of visual and sound experiences.

The scenes are superb with a bed becoming a boat, and a love scene with a coat stand. It is amazing how much feeling, expression and fun can be achieved with a coat stand complete with coat and hat, telling a story of a parting on a train platform.

The clowns are amazing performers, but also the staging, lighting and sound technicians do a brilliant job and are essential to this unique and fascinating show.

The interval and the show’s finale were so undefined you were never quite sure whether to leave your seat. I suggest you stay in the auditorium during the interval to witness the anarchic actions of the clowns, carrying umbrellas and as they leapt from seat to seat.

Slava’s Snowshow has a universal language that appeals to the child in everyone. It’s a five-star production that reminds us that we are all still playful children beneath our nine-to-five exteriors.

Five Stars.

Review by Nina Gardner.

For tickets, please follow the link below

Home

https://www.haroldpintertheatre.co.uk/shows/slavas-snowshow

Showing at Harold Pinter Theatre from 18th December 2024 – 12th January 2025.

Performers

Slava Polunin
Artem Zhino
Vanya Polunin
Francesco Bifano
Chris Lynam
Nikolai Terentiev
Yuri Musatov
Aellita West.

Technical Team

Dmitry Ushakov Tech Director
Mathieu Simon Stage Tech
Alistair Kerslake Sound Tech
Alexander Pecherskiy Lighting Tech
Anna Hannikainen Company Manager
Luliia Shumakova Costumer