The Snowman

Patrick Lay at The Rep Theatre, Birmingham – Thursday 29^th October 2026

With the clocks going back last Sunday, this annual time change always feels like the gateway to winter as the festive vibes begin to kick in.  Me and my wife Ajit had the privilege of going to The Rep theatre to watch Olivier Award winner Will Tuckett’s choreographic puppet adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ all-time Christmas classic The Snowman.

As children of the 80s, it’s a Christmas programme that arguably holds more sentiment to our generation than any other as it was a new animation at the time we were of a similar age to the boy in the programme.  So we both looked forward to The Birmingham Rep's production of The Snowman with much anticipation.

From the moment the first piano key to Walking In The Air starts the emotions kick in as they did for all the beautiful different instrumentations throughout.  True to the programme, it starts off in the family house on Christmas Eve as the boy wakes up to heavy snowfall and joyfully builds a snowman.  But at the stroke of midnight, he is too excited to sleep and wakes up to go out to see the snowman he so proudly built, only to witness the snowman actually coming to life.  Designed by Tahra Zafar, the snowman ‘s costume looked as you can remember in the programme and built in proportion to the hero himself.

The costumes and the set, both arranged by Anna Fleischle, were done so with such precision with the boys iconic striped dressing gown as well as the hat, scarf and fruit used to decorate the snowman.  The set was interchangeable and depicted the boy’s and parents’ respected bedrooms as well as the lounge.  Plus of course the artefacts and much-loved toys you see in the programme.

There are more elongated scenes for the animals that you briefly see in the TV programme.  These include the family cat, fox, rabbit and kits with the puppets all designed so meticulously by Daisy Beattie.  The puppeteers also worked superbly on making the animals’ movements look near lifelike and in particular the reindeers.
 

Enchanting from the start, the visual effects, designed by Nina Dunn were absolutely superb.  None more so than the beautiful and highly emotional scenes of the snowman and the boy arm in arm in the air over Brighton en route to the North Pole for the most magical visit any child could ever wish for. The thrill of seeing the boy and the snowman actually flying through the air on stage had the entire audience gasping in awe.

The boy in the production is performed by four child actors (Felix, Jake, Tristan and Tate), with Tate taking on the role on this particular night.  Throughout the production he played the part so well, with his facial expressions depicting the different emotions and excitement of the boy.  His choreography was timed to perfection as indeed were all the snowmen, Father Christmas and the two elves with all their festive frolicking. The journey home through the air on stage after receiving his gift from Santa is equally breath-taking.

But the excitement of the night time celebrations are short-lived with the heartbreaking scene on Christmas Day morning.  The boy wakes up to discover that the snowman has melted, resonating how precious and fleeting life is and those we treasure most are.  As the boy cries his tears, he gazes symbolically up at the sky which was beautiful yet so tear-jerking.

The show finished with a lovely curtain call from the North Pole scene with the audience on their feet clapping along with the rousing reception the production fully deserved. 

Showing at The Rep until this Sunday (1^st November), this is a production not to be missed. Get tickets here.

Photo © Johan Persson. Production Design: Anna Fleischle