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The Snow Queen

 
Stephanie Green Review by Stephanie Green 4 Published: 5 Dec 2025 Edinburgh Festival Theatre Show Dates: 27 Nov 2025-7 Dec 2025

Ice and fire: just what we need at Christmas. Scottish Ballet’s The Snow Queen is a wintry treat, now in its third outing since the premiere in 2019. The Snow Queen’s icy world is contrasted with the warmth and colour of circus performers, Romani travellers and the heart-warming love between Kai and Gerda. Choreographer Christopher Hampson has welded together Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale with Disney’s Frozen, adding a storyline concerning the rivalry of the Snow Queen and her sister the Summer Princess for Kai, now an adult.

As much glitter as you could desire

Unfortunately, this subplot rather confuses the action. That said, the Summer Queen, disguised as Lexi, a pickpocket in a green jacket, is superbly performed by Marisa Poulson. Her malicious and fierce vitality dominates the stage, reducing poor Gerda (Kayla-Maree Tarantolo) to a wimp. No wonder Kai prefers the icily glamorous Snow Queen (Jessica Fyfe).

There is much to admire: the breathtaking set designed by Lez Brotherson, the sisters framed inside a jagged broken mirror, animations of ice shards, the tracery of forest branches and the ice throne. The snow creatures’ costumes are terrific, especially the wolves with their grimacing masks and stylised fur, and the scary Jack Frosts. There is as much glitter as you could desire in the Snow Queen’s attire and the Snow Fairies, and in contrast there are colourful circus and Romani costumes and the latter’s encampment.

However, a dull first act is mired in developing the Lexi pickpocket story, and the Snow Queen’s entrance fails to inspire terror. But the show comes alive in Act Two, in the Romani encampment, with a terrific Spanish-flavoured dance of males leaping and the skirts of the females swirling. An additional bonus is Gillian Rissi playing the fiddle live.

Kai (Bruno Micchiardi) and the Snow Queen (Jessica Fyfe) perform beautiful pas de deux where her spiky moves and some heart-stopping lifts held upside down are impressive. However, there is no chemistry between them. He looks bewildered throughout and she fails to be scary, only smug. It is unclear how Kai wakes from the Snow Queen’s spell. As for the Snow Queen and Summer Queen’s reconciliation, it hardly registered.

A muddled plot, a mistaken substitute for real drama, and a failure to delve into Hans Andersen’s exploration of evil and the symbol of the ice shard in one’s eye mean that this show lacks any depth. But does it matter? The kids won’t care.

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The Blurb:

This glittering production is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale – which was also the basis for Frozen.

A frosty, festive classic

From the bustle of a winter’s market to the shivers of a fairytale forest, take a journey to the Snow Queen’s palace, where you’ll find her surrounded by the icy fragments of an enchanted mirror.

Along the way, you’ll meet a sparkling cast of characters, from young lovers parted by a spell to a circus ringmaster with a few tricks up his sleeve.

Choreographed by Christopher Hampson and designed by the award-winning Lez Brotherston, this story of love and friendship is a delight for the whole family.