Opening with the Finn Woman (a delightfully gnarled Charlotte Hamblin) creeping on stage from the auditorium, The Snow Queen was more than adequately introduced to its eager audiences. Before long, the curtains were eventually pulled back to reveal the busy little town of Achoo, its residents donning appropriately seasonal jumpers and less aesthetically pleasing Ugg boots, if inexplicably ruled by an Italian cane-carrying mayor.  

A key feature of what is undeniably the biggest show of the term is its production value. There was an impressive set change during the interval, a couple trap doors, snow machines, a wonderful use of lighting to create the night’s sky (Pippa Scarcliffe and Vicky Green are to be congratulated on their set and lighting design, respectively, which no doubt was as much a logistical as a creative challenge). The candyfloss pink bouffant sported by Cherry on Top (a shamelessly flirtatious Harry Michell) alone is worth a mention. And yet, for all its technical accomplishments and solid performances, I couldn’t help but feel that, for the majority of the performance, something imperceptible was missing. It is perhaps unfair to compare this particular production to the pantomimes in recent years, but it took much longer for me to find myself fully invested in The Snow Queen. One doesn’t watch a panto looking for a measured sense of pace or thought-provoking points and so this criticism doesn’t come from a cynical place, but rather, a wish this year’s ADC/Footlights pantomime had a little more heart.

Without this, I found myself noticing a number of things that otherwise wouldn’t have mattered:  the presence of a rather awkward ‘Macedonian monologue’ whose presence seemed confusing and unnecessary, weird references to shaving, the slickness of the choreography of the opening number not being matched by enunciation in the singing.  The last point might be down to Alex Aitken’s commendably ambitious score, which featured songs more structurally complicated than those in your average panto - the highlight of which being a duet between Rosa Robson’s Snow Queen and Jack Mosedale as Kay – which might have caused a little too much time and effort to be expended on getting the singing right.

Despite this, as previously mentioned, the performances were enjoyable, ranging from the interplay between protagonists Mosedale and Emma Powell (Gerda) to Jack Gamble’s scene-stealing entrance as the true villain of the show. The puns were as terrifically embarrassing as one might hope for a production which has at its heart ice cream (‘rum and raisin d’etre’ was the best and simultaneously, most groan-worthy). The show’s most engaging and endearing moments, aside from the finale, were little touches, such as the charming bird puppets used to signify the arrival of morning, which captured a nicely childlike sensibility that was exactly what felt lacking in much of the rest of the show. Overall, The Snow Queen was far from being structurally flawed and indeed was likeable and impressive, but for the most part wasn’t as lovable an experience as one might expect for a pantomime.

The Snow Queen plays at the ADC until Saturday 1st December