BWW Reviews: THE SNOW GORILLA, Rose Theatre, December 2 2013

We all know that there's a gorilla behind the curtain - the posters and programme are a giveaway - and so we're all waiting for the gorilla. And when the gorilla arrives, he doesn't disappoint, for he is a remarkable creation brilliantly brought to life by Dominic Leeder's physical gifts and Brian Blessed's sonorous voice.

In fact the gorilla is so good that he leads to one of two structural issues for this ambitious show. The first is that we all want more and more gorilla! So when he's not charming us as he lopes around the stage, we're all looking to see if his curtain is twitching so we can marvel some more. It's a distraction, if a captivating one!

If that's a penalty of success, the other issue for this show is more of a self-inflicted wound. Even when the gorilla is off-stage, very impressive circus acts do their stuff under the Rose Theatre's "Big Top". There's some excellent aerial work from Jordan Webb and Onna Degerman, extraordinary contortion from Gereltuya Ganbold and any amount of juggling, flamenco dancing and tumbling. So, with all that going on, the stroyline needs to be strong just to keep up - unfortunately, as a mystery-thriller, it's more Scooby Doo than Agatha Christie.

Lucy Hope-Borne looks great and sings well and Ciaran Joyce is winsomely winning as the runaway who falls for her. The principals get fine support from tart-with-a-heart circus owner, Joanne Heywood and Nicholas Maude as panto villain Erick - and watch out for Sam Parks' turn, as he almost steals the show from the gorilla, which really would be a thing!

The Snow Gorilla is part love story, part pantomime, part circus and part special effects fest - and it's all entertaining for all the family. Whether it hangs well together, whether it's quite rooted enough in any one of those formats, whether it realises all its very considerable ambition, I'm not sure. But there's an unforgettable gorilla and for that reason alone, it's worth a trip down to the Thames.

The Snow Gorilla continues at The Rose Theatre, Kingston until 5 January.

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