Following a celebrated return to the UK last Christmas, SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW, the multi award-winning global phenomenon, returns to tour the UK this Autumn and gets to the New Theatre in Cardiff this week (15th to 18th October). The scruffy, disarming troupe of multi-cultural fools will take audiences on a spellbinding adventure, unleashing full-throttle madness amidst enchanting, contemplative moments, before roaring to its legendary finish.
Immerse yourself in the whimsical world of Slava’s SnowShow, a spellbinding spectacle where laughter and wonder collide. It’s a celebration that knows no bounds, uniting people of all walks of life in a shared moment of joyous folly.
Slava’s SnowShow is a cavalcade of chaos and charm that invites you to leave the everyday behind and indulge in pure, tender delight.
The show really is an unforgettable experience that promises to sprinkle a little magic into your life and remind you of the joy in being wonderfully silly.
The son of Slava is Vanya Polunin who has been on stage performing since he was seven years old. As Vanya told us, it’s a show filled with emotions that everybody has. It’s about love, loss, fear and hope. And fear about sums up the word we had when we went along to chat to Vanya along with two of the more, shall we say, interactive characters from the show……
Vanya’s Dad Slava told us…..
“SnowShow has been travelling the world every day for over 30 years, clowning is much more than laughter—it’s about seeing life from a poetic perspective, finding joy and emotions in the simple, the absurd, and the unexpected. The UK has always embraced our poetic universe, and I can’t wait to see how new audiences react and look forward to welcoming back familiar faces who saw SnowShow many years ago.â€
Our full interview with Slava is further down this page.
Since its UK debut in 1996 at the Edinburgh Festival, Slava’s Snowshow has captivated audiences across the country with its enchanting blend of theatrical artistry and magical whimsy. The show has played over 100 weeks to an estimated 1 million spectators in the UK, with over 800 performances across numerous cities, including notable stints at London’s Peacock Theatre, The Old Vic, Piccadilly Theatre, and most recently the Harold Pinter.
Extensive tours between 2006 and 2017 brought the show to cities such as Bradford, Wimbledon, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Canterbury, Cardiff, and Birmingham, many of which it returns to on this tour.
Slava’s SnowShow, a visual and musical extravaganza, offers a dream-like vision that overflows with theatrical magic and humorous antics. The production is set within an absurd and surrealistic world of ‘fools on the loose’, a work of art in which each scene paints a picture: an unlikely shark swimming in a misty sea; clowns and the audience tangled up in a gigantic spider’s web; heart-breaking goodbyes with a coat rack on a railway platform; audience members hypnotised by giant balloons; and an out-of-this-world snowstorm that’s sure to leave audiences spellbound.
Slava’s SnowShow is the recipient of more than 20 international awards, including an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony Award nomination. In addition to unanimous public acclaim, the production is a darling with critics who have declared it “a thing of rare theatrical beauty not to be missed†(Daily Telegraph) and confessed, “my heart leapt… [SnowShow] induces waves of giggles and sighs of pleasure.†(New York Times).
Born in a small town in central Russia, Slava Polunin discovered the art of pantomime in high school. As he grew to adulthood in Leningrad, he developed an eccentric version of the form, which he lovingly dubbed ‘Expressive Idiotism.’ From 1979 on, Slava quickly became a fixture on Russian stages and TV, sharing his gifts and continuing to redefine the art of clowning with his poetic and poignant approach to comic performance. This discovery would reach its zenith with Slava’s SnowShow, which debuted in Moscow in 1993, and then burst onto world stages at the 1996 Edinburgh Festival to universal praise and wonder.
Since its debut, the work has travelled all over the world, playing to an estimated 14 million people worldwide, with more than 12,000 performances in over 225 cities and 40 counties.
SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW is at the New Theatre in Cardiff from today, Wednesday 15th through to Saturday 18th October. Shows are at 7pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. 2:30pm on Thursday and Saturday with a 5pm and 8:30pm on Friday. For more details and tickets, go HERE.
Diane Parkes went to meet Slava…..
To my right a red piano and red pianist on a green raft glide along the river sending music into the air, in the distance I can hear the drums and whoops of a carnival of fools and behind me a clown rides a bicycle which pumps out bubbles for excited children.
In front of me sits the man responsible for this garden of delights – Slava Polunin. With his trademark white whiskers sticking out at right angles from his cheeks, a fool’s cap on his head and his eyes painted with black and white, Slava is every inch the clown – and we are in his world of fantasy and phantasmagoria.
This weekend Slava has turned his home outside Paris, the 18th century Yellow Windmill, and its 10 hectares of grounds into the Pulcinella Festival, celebrating the historic commedia dell’arte character. Strolling through the gardens are hundreds of visitors dressed in fantastical costumes and speaking a host of different languages, here to step into Slava’s imagination for a few hours.
This is a world which also inspired his most successful touring stage production Slava’s Snowshow which comes to the New Theatre in Cardiff.
First staged in 1993, Slava’s Snowshow is an international phenomenon which has played more than 60 countries. Featuring the adventures and interactions of a group of Yellow Clowns and Green Clowns, the production is a blend of slapstick comedy, heart-wrenching tenderness, dramatic spectacle and moments of wonder.
Recently celebrating its 30th anniversary (in 2023), Slava’s Snowshow has received awards from across the globe including an Olivier for Best Entertainment and a Time Out Award for Best Show.
Many in the audiences are return visitors and that, Slava says, is because no two performances are exactly alike.
“The show is like jazz, there are notes and points but then you can do whatever you want,†he explains. “When you understand your audience you change it, you hold the moments.
It’s very important for us to have the mood and the atmosphere of each performance. People come because they want to experience what we create – this special atmosphere, this childish feeling of happiness, liberty, joy and playfulness.â€
Slava is so determined to ensure the show creates an individual experience that he chooses the cast just before each performance.
“The artists don’t know what part they will play – they find out only 30 minutes before the performance,†he explains. “I look at them and decide in that moment if this person is in the mood to play this part today.â€
So too, Slava says each audience member will respond differently depending on their own experiences in life and even on that day.
“There are a lot of layers in this show. There are mundane everyday things right through to very cosmic eternal things.
I try to make it so that every person in the audience will find their own interest in the Snowshow. For the children it’s the play, the grandmother will have tears in her eyes because of the destiny of the character, the professor will receive joy from the new language, the punk will have joy in finding it all upside-down and the romantic will see the love.
This show allows us to return to our childhood. Growing up, people lose the idea of wanting to achieve their dreams and I remind them about it and they return to what were the most important things in their lives, what they have lost as they grew up.â€
At 75 years of age, Slava has retained that sense of wonder throughout his life.
“I still think that I am seven years old. It’s very easy to be a child – you just have to observe and be surprised and always amazed.â€
Slava grew up in a small town in Russia and enjoyed performing in school productions before moving to the then Leningrad to join a mime studio. He trained in theatre skills in London and believes the British have a very distinctive sense of humour.
When I come to the UK I always play the card of nonsense because that is the UK for me. Lewis Carroll is one of my favourites and Monty Python was genius, I think they re-invented the attitude towards laughter. That’s why I love the UK – Tommy Cooper, Max Wall, Charlie Chaplin, there are a lot of people who do laughter in the UK. The humour is the best in the world.â€
As a child in Russia, each winter Slava saw the power of snow. It would fall so heavily he could dig tunnels six feet down and it was his playground, but he was also constantly warned about its dangers. And so, when he came to create a production based on his own experience of life he returned to that time and to the idea of snow as both a tiny flake and a potentially cataclysmic force of nature.
“At the beginning, the show was called Yellow and the accent was on the person, the character, but then I thought that it’s not that important that this character exists but what happens to him that matters. This little yellow dot in this endless space in blueness – he thinks, feels, and then tries to fight destiny.
And his destiny is snow, and snow is something beautiful and something terrifying. There is the question – when there is a snowstorm and it destroys everything, is it a good thing or is it a bad thing? But in reality it is both at the same time and life is like that. Everything in life can be a win and it can be a loss.â€
The pianist has long drifted back down the river and the parade of fools has paused for a break. A group of visitors have discovered our interview spot behind the trees and are waiting for us to finish in the hope they can meet Slava. He gives me a smile to ensure I understand he is wanted elsewhere and then turns to welcome them to his world.
