The Snow Gorilla, Rose Theatre Kingston - theatre review

This jolly piece combines elements of circus, panto and musical to tell its tale of an orphan who runs away to join the circus and befriends a gorilla along the way
The Snow Gorilla
Helen Maybanks
6 December 2013

Is it a circus? Is it panto? A musical? The Snow Gorilla is in fact a jolly mixture of all three: about an orphan who runs away to join a circus and ends up befriending a gorilla. And a very fine gorilla it is — a massive puppet with convincing body movements, inhabited by Dominic Leeder, with the recorded voice of Brian Blessed — and if ever a man was cut out to be the voice of gorilla it is he.

The plot is featherlight: our orphan, Sunny (Ciaran Joyce), has barely had time to fall in love with the owner’s daughter before being framed for theft. And we know who to blame for that — the diabolical magician, Erick Charelle (Nicholas Maude), who courts the boos of the audience with swirls of his black cloak.

Fortunately Sunny has by then made friends with an enormous gorilla, Gor, who is kept out of view behind a curtain, which seems a shame, given he can actually talk. So when Sunny returns, to prove his innocence, he has the help of Gor and his homespun philosophy. (The piece has a Victorian backdrop, but it’s invested with very modern views about animals in captivity.)

The circus element — from Bor Productions — is enormous fun. The African acrobat trio (Cryton Gavias, John Jaidi and Paul Kotey) stole the show but there was lots to like: a juggler! A contortionist! Flamenco!

I can only pay tribute to this engaging production by saying that the seven-year-old with me spent the journey home trying to dance flamenco and balance a balloon on her nose. A win, then.

Until Jan 5 (0844 482 1556, rosetheatrekingston.org)

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