The Snow Queen

An icy storm is brewing across Dartmoor. In the houses down below, two friends Gerda and Kay are growing up, but growing apart. As the snow falls and their argument builds, is there more to this icy flurry than first meets the eye?

Above Bounds Theatre presents The Snow Queen by Lottie Finklaire, a work-in-progress performance of a brand new adaptation inspired by the original tale, the content of which was created with (and for) young people. Themes include the environment, friendship and looking after the planet.

Supported using public funding through the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Supported by Papatango Theatre Company.

The journey began in 2020, when as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were unable to run our workshops in person at Ocean Studios, Plymouth, so instead worked with young people and their families online. During these workshops, we started to retell the traditional story of The Snow Queen for an audience in 2020. Thanks to support from Papatango Theatre Company, we then worked with professional Writer Lottie Finklaire who worked with us online with our Up & Above Drama club and to create a brand new script. In 2021, we handed the script over to a director and 3 professional actors, who then performed this back to the young people on Zoom. Both young people and artists felt like the play should be staged.

In September 2022, we worked with Doorstep Arts Saturday Drama, blocking the movement for the actors, composing the music and designing the puppets and set! Daisy (our composer) also joined us at these sessions to generate the style and feel of the music for the show. We compiled all of this creative material into the performance, which was presented as a 'work-in-progress' at several venues in the South West.