Slava playfully enchants the crowd
|||SLAVA’S SNOW SHOW
DIRECTOR: Victor Kramer
CAST: Robert Saralp, Oleg Lugovskoy, Onofrio Colucci, Dmitry Khamzin, Christopher Luynam, Aelita West, Guido Nardin
VENUE: Artscape Theatre
UNTIL: Sunday
RATING: 5 stars (out of 5)
SLAVA Snow Show is quite the magical experience.
Evocative of childhood fantasies and your wildest dreams, the show takes you to familiar places that work, societal rules and being all grown up and being cut off from a place of whimsy, imagination and, above all, fun.
Slowly it seduces you into a world of balloons with attitude, clowns with personality and, eventually, fluffy clouds and bouncy balls and this is exactly where you want to be.In his baggy, bright-yellow suit and fluffy red slippers, the Slava character (Saralp) cuts the comical and slightly familiar figure – we saw Slava Polunin create this character, Assissai, in all those random, international circus shows the SABC used to play on a Saturday afternoon back in the 1980s.
He is joined by six green-coated clowns – each as individual as Slava – though they at first glance they seem to have the same costume.With impeccable timing, the clowns play various archetypal characters, like a traveller or a couple having a conversation on a phone, though never is a single word spoken.
There is a measure of improv that responds to the audience participation, but it is not a forced participation, rather a growing sense of being part of all moving in the same direction. Gesture and mime suffice to tell you exactly what is going on, so you also relax into this world they create because you don’t have to concentrate on parsing the words as well as actions.
The set dressing is deceptively simple, with the clowns carrying minimal props on and off stage as they need. You leave the theatre in a playful mood, with a lighter heart, and that is the wonder of the show – how it gets you in the mood to play and then gives you the space to do so.