Slava's Snowshow

I saw wonder and beauty tonight at the New Wimbledon Theatre when Slava showed me his Snowshow. It was whimsical, eccentric and downright mad.

Slava was dressed in his baggy yellow longjohns and his helpers in their long green coats and wide brimmed hats. I like the Green People. They're wierd. The gentle atmospheric music, the fuzzy-felt backdrop, balloons floating in slow motion (how do they do that?), bubbles cascading over the stage, giant cobwebs and, of course, snow...

I don't know how to describe the show. It was a series of scenes featuring Slava and the Green People, or just Slava or just the Green People. And sometimes a Green Person would randomly walk across the stage or run on stage and squirt water at the audience. It's all about atmosphere and moods, careful lighting matching the sound and the action on the stage. It's a wonderful sight.

The first act ended with Slava doing some spring cleaning on stage, finding a cobweb and gradually getting engulfed in cobwebs. Then a massive web fell to the stage and the Green People walked out into the audience pulling the cobweb over us all, raised hands pushing it backwards, webs clinging all over and getting in my beard... Returning from the bar at the and of the interval we found that the Green People had invaded the audience, clambering around the seats and accidentally squirting water at people - what mayhem had they been causing in my absence? I grinned and gawped at their antics.

Shall I tell you the secret of closing the show? Oh, ok. It's a scene I'd seen in 'Alegria' by Cirque du Soleil back in February with Slava cuddling an empty coat that cuddles him back, so sweet, so poignant... and then the lights explode into life pointed at the audience, the wind machine starts and snow erupts from the stage into the audience... wow! Applause, applause and then the Green People emerge... with enormous balls that they roll into the audience and we spend the rest of the show bouncing the huge balls from one side of the audience to the other as snow continues to fall. Strangely exhilerating.

I loved it! The show was over in about 1 1/2 hours and I'm still grinning. Slava came into the audience at the end and sat by the stage - I shook his hand and told him it was wonderful. Go and see it if you can - I'd happily go back for second helpings!