The Snowman - Sadlers Wells - 2018!

The Snowman – Sadlers Wells – 2018!

The first year we saw The Snowman performed by The Birmingham Repertory it was just Florence and I. We were invite in December 2014 to launch the Christmas Jumper Day campaign with Save The Children and we not only got the bug for knitting (which I’ve been avidly doing ever since) but we also we fell totally in love with The Snowman I’m sure most people that see the show do! It’s a perfect first ballet, a beautiful production and something really quite different to everything else. It’s a bit of a treat it has to be said but dipping into the purse for this one is well worth it and I’ve friends I’ve recommended it to who buy tickets every year now as their annual family Christmas treat because it’s so magical and special it’s looked forward to all year long!

In 2015 we took Jimmy and Daddy for the first time and seeing the wonder on Jimmy’s face was beautiful, I knew he’d love it and I’d felt bad that my little boy hadn’t seen it the first year we went so all was rectified as we watched the Raymond Briggs classic story come to life with dance and music once more.

You know me, as an actress I’m always in awe of the staging and the scenery. Costumes (the coconut – which you might be surprised about in a performance of ‘The Snowman’) and choreography had me oohing and ahhing while for the children it was definitely just pure magic on stage – I mean they fly. They FLY! And that music, the oh so famous music, is so emotive. I feel that the empathy provoked from watching this story is so important and yet so at the right level for a little one. It’s perfectly and beautifully performed; even I welled up a bit when we had to say goodbye at the end – all before a raucous finalé, of course, where the happy is restored and Christmas fun begins!

I feel it’s been the perfect start for us when it comes to Christmas celebrations in years gone by but somehow, probably because we’d just moved to Norfolk, we didn’t go the following year and it was definitely missed from our calendar. We didn’t go last year either as I’d just had Raffie and after a C-section wasn’t feeling my best for travel but this year… Oh this year I knew we’d love to go and reignite that tradition!

We were invited to press night (yes we are oh so very lucky) and this time took my Mum with us so we had two pairs of fresh eyes to see the show. My Mum said ‘wasn’t it just wonderful’ and she truly enjoyed it as much as me and the big kids while Raffie, our little baby boy, sat on my knee mesmermised for most of the production. He pointed and held his arms out and waved and clapped all the way through (just ask Lisa from New Mum on Line who noticed and commented on this very much) – I have to say I’d been a little worried about his concentration span, not going to lie to you because at 13 months I think sometimes an episode of Peppa Pig can be a stretch, but he was amazing, which is testament to how fabulous the show is of course!

My ‘three is the magic number’ with a snowman in the foyer of the Peacock Theatre yesterday!

The dancing is so captivating with just enough pointe work to make Florence’s eyes wish she was old enough to try and with the edge of minksome Jack Frost (our unanimous favourite baddie) so that Jimmy didn’t feel TOO much like he was in a Princess dream! It’s brilliant, honestly it is and it’s Sadlers Wells for children… I mean talk about an experience!

We would go back every week if we could and recommend it highly to all our friends as well as, of course, you! The Snowman is now on at the Peacock Theatre (a stone’s throw from Holborn Tube Station on the Central Line) until the 6th of January 2019. You can book now by visiting www.sadlerswells.com.

See a clip of the mesmerising show below!

If you’re looking for other things to do in the area with children before or after the show can I highly recommend (all within a 10 minute walk) a jaunt around Covent Garden to see the lights, trying SKATE at Somerset House for a really festive dance of your own on the ice, a visit to Corams Fields which is just up the road and a wonderful playground for little ones or a visit to the Transport Museum (one of our absolute faves)! Yesterday we didn’t do much after the show as poor Flobo had a bit of a headache the poor thing and we needed to take a flying visit to IKEA (Norwich is severely lacking in that area) but we did take a walk back to the tube via Lincoln’s Inn Fields which houses the chambers of London’s top legal beagles – it was very pretty and interesting and there’s a lovely little green space for running around in.