The Snow Queen | Keeping up with 'Kai'

Winter is just around the corner and, while our Snow Queen company are buried deep in rehearsals, we managed to grab a moment with one of our show's two best friends to find out a little more of what's to come.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and who you’re playing in the show.
My name's Steven Roberts and I'm playing Kai. I’m an actor originally from Hertfordshire and now living in London. This is my first time working in Bristol and I'm loving it so far. I haven't had that much time to explore the city yet but with the help of recent Bristol Old Vic Theatre School graduate Dylan (Wood), Zara (Ramm) who's worked here a lot and local Miltos (Yerolemou) I'm getting my bearings and some top tips! We had a cast trip to see The Grinning Man last week (which we loved - and what an act to follow!) and it was really exciting to see the space we'll be working in.

How would you say you’re approaching this version of the character?
Kai is Gerda's best friend and they've known each other since the day they were born. He's brave, bold, outgoing and loves dancing; he's completely himself and wears his (juicy) heart on his sleeve so it's been really fun exploring the way he moves and developing his friendship with Gerda, played by the lovely Emily (Burnett). When the Snow Queen sets out to take Kai's good heart she sends a shard of a mirror that turns everything to its opposite state and so Kai is suddenly consumed with a hate and disgust for the world that he's never had before so it's also been interesting exploring his change and how he battles with this.

What can the audience expect from the world of The Snow Queen?
The world of The Snow Queen is truly magical. The story is essentially a voyage of discovery for Gerda and a giant quest as she sets out to save Kai and bring him home. We open in the beautiful Village of the Yellow Roses and from then on it's a whistle stop tour of lots of magical places including a Flower Witch's Garden, a kingdom in which the woodland creatures are being suppressed by a wicked King and Queen, a cave full of Robber Girl's loot and of course The Snow Queen's Ice Palace. Our director Lee Lyford has pulled together an amazing creative team to bring Vivienne Franzmann's exciting adaptation to life who've designed beautiful sets and costumes (Tom Rogers), puppets (Marc Parrett) and projections (Will Duke) with brilliantly catchy and witty songs by Gwyneth Herbert.

Is there a particular aspect you’re most excited about?
I think I'm most excited to see it all come together.  We're just at the end of our second week of rehearsals and there's a real buzz in the rehearsal room with everyone throwing in ideas, trying things out and seeing what works.  We all play lots of different parts throughout as well, so there's not much time to sit around.  It’s all very exciting!

What’s been the most entertaining moment from the rehearsal room so far?
It's hard to pick the most entertaining moment because there have been so many - the rehearsal room’s definitely a very fun place to be.  If I had to give an answer, though, it would probably be a toss up between Joey (Holden) donning a prop dress and launching into an impromptu rendition of Edith Piaf in an afternoon break and (like Dylan said in his first rehearsal blog) the moment we were discussing the character of the Snow Queen and something fell onto the piano keyboard and made a huge sound and we all shouted out "the Snow Queen is here!"!!

If you were a goblin after the juiciest heart, which company member would you go for?
That's an impossible question to answer and I'm going to say that they're all as juicy as each other, because they really are all very lovely and I couldn't think of a nicer bunch to spend the Christmas period with!

This Christmas we round off the year with our epic adaptation of The Snow Queen. For more information and to book tickets, click here.