Last night I was lucky enough to watch Slava’s Snow Show on the front row at the Hippodrome and it was a truly magical experience. As someone who is a devotee to the theatre I am embarrassed to say that I’d never heard of the show before. It’s a show that I would never think to have seen but I’m incredibly glad that I did.
I struggled to describe the show to my friends the next day, let alone write it in a blog post as there isn’t a plot. The show doesn’t tell a story yet the use of a mixture of small scenes creates laughter and a real sense of emotion throughout the show. The main character is a yellow clown and as the show progresses you are introduced to a whole bunch of green clowns that torment and tease each other providing a great deal of humour.
As hilarious as a majority of the show is, there are a few touching moments that really make your heart ache.
At the start of the show up until the interval I think I developed a slight fear of clowns, as much as the show made me smile uncontrollably I was finding that when the clowns were very up close and personal (such as when they literally climb over the audience) I got slightly scared. However my opinion soon changed during the second half. Towards the end of the show the clowns were playing around with the audience members, squirting water and throwing massive balloons at them. I think the best way to describe the show was a mixture of a nightmare and a daydream. Whilst elements had me truly on edge as you literally had no idea what was going to happen next, I couldn’t help but laugh until my face hurt.
My favourite element of the show was the special moments of audience interaction. I adored it when a huge spider jumped on stage and the audience were completely covered by a cobweb. I also loved it when the clowns came off the stage and into the audience to play jokes on them. However I did make a lot of effort to not make eye contact with any of them as I didn’t want to be their next target.
The most incredible moment of the show was the snowstorm, and it was very moving at the end as the clown created a breathtaking moment. The mixture of the intensity of the music and the movement built up to the exhilarating snowstorm. I was then utterly blinded by the amazing special effects of the snow pelting towards the audience. The show finished with snow falling, enormous balloons bouncing around both the stage and the audience, and the clowns interacting with everyone in the audience. Overall the end of the show is like a giant sensational party.
I really did feel about ten years old again and I loved every second of it.
It was more than just a show, it was an experience. I urge everybody of all ages to go and see it because I just can’t put into words how much fun I had.
It is like no other piece of theatre I’ve seen before and it’s sensational from start to finish.
Slava’s Snow Show continues to the 16th of November, details can be found here.
