Red Snow, a musical written by James Ball and directed by himself and Hannah Higton, fervently sprinkled its presence all over the barn on its opening night, and illustrates, formidably so, that student written productions can find great success with the right head behind them.
Set in Stalinist Russia, Red Snow illustrates the effects of the Communist regime on a group of farmers. Put under pressure by staunch Stalin supporter Bolyen (Benedick Gibson) and his comrade Sergei (Matthew Lecznar) to meet the targets of the Five Year Plans, the community begin to crack. Vladimir (Adam Massingberd-Mundy) and Nina (Ruth Fitton), both members of the village, have their relationship tested under the strains, whilst Zmeya (Max Tyler), comedic bootleg potato seller, declares a love for Nina too. Bolyen’s wife Natasha (Laura Horton) feels the burden as an oppressed woman in Soviet Russia. When the village gets turned into a gulag the society is split resulting in large repercussions for the members.
Red Snow appeared to be a show where the acting and musical aspects of the show never really converged. There were fantastic vocal performances from the entire cast, who blended well together creating a wonderfully balanced array of voices. The music was beautifully composed and full of energy that ran through the show. Lecznar’s vocal performance however included his voice cracking and at one moment found himself stumbling over the words to a song.
There were some thrilling acting displays and on this point, Lecznar was certainly confident, moving through the emotions of his character perfectly, from obedience to illicit passion. Other members of the cast showed glimpses of acting splendour that became monotonous very quickly. Gibson’s disabled war veteran was menacing, vindictive and intense, but the acting was often robotic and never appeared to change gear. Likewise, Massingberd-Mundy, despite a strong vocal display, followed it up with some lacklustre acting that saw him either shouting in rage or crying in despair.
Much of the flatness in character comes from the writing. Whilst the play flowed at a very quick pace and was always moving forward, some characters were not given room to develop. The relationship between Vladimir and Nina was difficult to follow and identify with because it never had the space to explain itself and grow.
Despite this, Laura Horton was able to reconcile acting and singing to offer the whole musical package. Nowhere does she show the raunchy yet tenacious vitality of her character than in the song ‘Drink Comrades’. Slickly choreographed and poignantly sung, this was a fantastic display of Horton’s talent. To follow this up with a tender yet infuriated lament about her position as a woman in Soviet Russia, displayed her true versatility.
As the snow fell from the roof of the Barn, it settled on a truly wonderful piece of theatre that is Red Snow, which, for its shortcomings, more than makes up for it with some wonderful music, stellar voices and good moments of acting that will truly leave you entertained.
Firstly, congratulations to James Ball and the whole production team. The music is fantastic, and apart from a slightly confusing ending, the story and plot are enthralling and enjoyable.
Matt’s voice only cracked because he had repeated sustained high notes, whilst climbing up onto the set, and I don’t think it’s fair of you to pick on him – he wasn’t the worst. Adam’s acting, despite (in your opinion) only having two emotions, was not poor alongside other more inexperienced actors. Benji was not at all “robotic”, and his acting was at its finest in the final scene. Max almost stole the show for me – his comedic potato song, although occurring 15 or so minutes into the first half, was the first time the audience relaxed and really begun the show, and his acting was comedic but serious when required. Laura was fantastic as always, and combined a sultry singing voice with spot on acting.
Yes, the characters didn’t have time to develop, but James Ball is a musician, and the music was phenomenal and without fault, and the mammoth task of creating a whole musical, lyrics and libretto is not one to be looked upon lightly, especially by a 22(?)-year-old composer.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself last night, and feel honoured to have watched the world premiere! When James makes it big, I can tell my grandchildren I saw his first ever musical!
Why has nothing been mentioned about Zmeya (Max Tyler) and Nina (Ruth Fitton)?
I find it hard to believe that the reviewer didn’t crack a smile during Zmeya’s ‘Potato Song’, when all of the audience had wide grins throughout that scene. The cast’s enjoyment really came across well to the audience and it served as a good breath of relief for a show that was really quite intense. I have to say that was one of my favourite scenes, especially because Max has great comic timing.
‘Snowflake’ was elegant yet sad – Fitton looked so pretty and pure, and I thought she conveyed her role as the betrayed, hurt Nina wonderfully. Her singing was spot on, although perhaps the Orchestra were a bit too loud for my personal taste on occasion. I hope she’ll be doing a lot more musical theatre on campus in future – I think we’ve just gained some refreshing talent in our midst!
Well, I’m no ‘proper’ reviewer, but praise is certainly owed to Tyler and Fitton.
Give credit where credit is due in future please!