Snow mice! Review – Christmas Creatures Play Hide and Squeak in a Winter Wonderland | stage

TEgg Theater has created a tradition of festive plays about curious animals. Two years ago, Midnight Mall dug up a Chekhov-inspired cherry orchard. Back in 2019, the irresistibly stylish squirrel, which returns to Unicorn in London next month, was absolutely perfect. But the egg’s most enduring Christmas creature is Snow Mouse, the puppet star of a popular show in the early years. It has now been doubled for this new hour-long adventure aimed at slightly older audiences, aged three to nine.

After three mice fly around like Mary Poppins, clinging to broccoli with their tails swinging, we meet three children who have reluctantly moved from the city to the country. The reason is undisclosed – perhaps divorce, as eldest daughter Megan (Nikki Warwick) speaks of her embarrassment. Her sister, Juliet (Linda Scaramella), is a bookworm looking for everyday thrills to rival her novels, while her youngest, Timmy (Martin Bunger), is a slightly fragile bundle of thrills.

These city mice learn to love their new home thanks to the resident rodents who appear to them in turn and encourage them to find the wonders in their surroundings. By doing this, children learn to stop clinging and work as a team of equals, regardless of their age. But pleasingly, the series is neither didactic nor nordic – there is a glimmer of danger when Megan disappears and Juliet revels in the potential tragedy with grotesque glee.

Under a glacier-like cloud, the Zoe Squire set features a dollhouse that transforms into bunk beds and when the snow falls, the entire hall transforms into a cozy den. A transparency sheet is pulled over the audience as the siblings talk about a freshly covered landscape as if by a giant white quilt. Supported by Katie Morrison’s lighting design, the effect is stunning, enjoying the stillness of freshly fallen snow, for a brief moment.

This co-production with New International Encounter is directed by Alex Byrne, co-written by Byrne, Kate Cross and Georgia Casimir, with creation by actor and composer Greg Hall. The actors join in on various instruments, but it is Hall, dressed in a charmingly contrasting tuxedo and tie, who plays the bulk of a score that blends mystery and mischief. It’s a perfect fit for the swashbuckling mice in underwear who do a dance when promised cheese on toast and have a habit of disappearing. The stage is intimate enough for everyone to get a close look at the puppets, created by Mark Barrett based on a design by Edwina Bridgman, and directed by Chris Perry.

The cast are adept at improvising with the audience and also share a real-life sibling dynamic – there’s a clever parallel to the brothers and sisters in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which Megan read. This is the time of year when most theaters adapt an existing IP for their children’s shows, but The Egg proves that you can grow your own instead — and even turn it into a festive franchise.