CurtainUp
CurtainUp

The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
www.curtainup.com


HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH

REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp London London Review
Feathers in the Snow


War is never safe! — Lena
Feathers in the Snow
(Photo: Bronwen Sharp)
Philip Ridley’s play for family audiences looks at storytelling, myths and legends by following a woman’s decision to marry a particular man as the catalyst of the history of the peoples that follows. This is the last production in Southwark Playhouse’s old home before London Bridge station is redeveloped. With a professional cast supplemented by the Southwark Playhouse Young Company, YoCo, who are not only competent but impressive, Ridley’s play has a huge cast of characters. I think I counted nine distinct parts from one actor, Adam Venus, alone.

Lena (Nelly Harker) finds herself wooed by two men: Jared (Craig Vye) who has muscles and Stefan (Adam Venus) who has imagination. She chooses Jared and despite the help of three busybody women neighbours (Matthew Hendrickson, Cerith Flinn and Adam Venus) the pregnancy and birth proves difficult. Worse the child Shylyla (Deeivya Meir) seems depressed and almost catatonic until she is revived by a single feather from the Blazerbird (Adam Venus) a kind of mythological deity with incredible powers of healing and inspiration. When Shylyla looses her feather Jared goes to look for it and captures the prince’s bird after killing the prince. Seeing the country in turmoil, the King’s chief Advisor Kalef (Matthew Hendrickson ) suggests war to unite the country. Shylyla meets a young man TwoTwo (Craig Vye) and together they try to rebuild some of the war torn landscape.

TwoTwo will misunderstand the significance of Blazerbird and eat the miraculous bird. Shylyla and TwoTwo will move away to an island and separately found two opposing races. On their travels they will form the Happy Clappy Band and meet the Sea Witch (Nelly Harker) and weather a tsunami. Two rival countries are founded TwoTwoia and Blazerbirdia.

There is excellent movement from the whole company in this vibrant, physical play with songs with music by Nick Bicât and choreography from Yael Lowenstein. I really enjoyed Adam Venus’ expressive, multiple portrayals, and the Official Historians of the opposing countries are a sheer delight as they humorously interpret events for posterity. Deeivya Meir has boundless energy as the sympathetic Shylyla but the whole cast play at a terrific pace.

While the fantasy will undoubtedly please children, there is enough in this thoughtful history of civilisation to engage adults. The design uses the stairs and balcony level and costumes delineate different characters.

Phil Ridley has written many books for children as well as iconic plays for adults and so can get into the children’s psyche with mystery and mythology. This is a refreshing alternative to the Christmas diet of Pantomime and musicals. The final song has the sentiment that our joy and happiness devolve from each other. I’m carrying my Blazerbird feather with me!

From 14 January 2013 Southwark Playhouse’s new address will be 77 - 85 Newington Causeway, SE1 6BD midway between the Elephant and Castle and Borough Tube Stations.  

Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe, E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country.
Feathers in the Snow
Written by Philip Ridley
Directed by David Mercatali

Starring: Cerith Finn, Nelly Harker, Matthew Hendrickson, Deeivya Meir, Adam Venus, Craig Vye
With: Louis Allen, Natalie Argyropoulou, Diegi Benzoni, Harriet Clark, Matthew R Connelly, Ryan McGibbon, Liberty Jackson, Michael Lee-Mckenzie, Nassy Konan Maureen, Comfort Nwabla, Helen Reuben, Kieran Rogers, Maxim Ryder, Clementine Salvi-Offer, Ibrahim Shote, Melissa Tehrani, Douglas Wood
Designed by Simon Kenny
Lighting: Gary Bowman
Composer: Nick Bicât
Musical Director: Joseph Atkins
Running time: Two hours with one interval
Box Office: 020 7407 0234
Booking to 5 January 2013
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 7th December 2012 performance at the Southwark Playhouse, Shipwright Yard (Corner of Tooley Street & Bermondsey Street) London, SE1 2TF (Rail/Tube: London Bridge)

REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of Feathers in the Snow
  • I disagree with the review of Feathers in the Snow
  • The review made me eager to see Feathers in the Snow
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V):

Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email . . . also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review.

London Theatre Walks


Peter Ackroyd's  History of London: The Biography



London Sketchbook



tales from shakespeare
Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co.
Click image to buy.
Our Review


©Copyright 2012, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com