Type – Drama, Contemporary Theatre, Current Zeitgeist
If you like – David Williamson, Andrew Bovell
Snowflake: A scorching family drama unfolds in this indie-to-mainstage gem
Mike Bartlett’s Snowflake is billed as a “laugh-out-loud, lump-in-your-throat festive showdown”, when really it’s a scalding example of the fact that in an ever-divided world, we’re forgetting how to talk to each other and find common ground…and it just happens to be Christmas Eve.
Set within the church hall of an outer village of Greater London, the piece explores the fractured relationship between a father and daughter six years after the death of the mother, and three years after the daughter walked out of his life. I left the show not really sure of who we’re meant to side with, as all three of the characters have faults and opinions that would have tables flipped at most Christmas lunches.
Breakout director Jo Bradley finds every morsel of warmth in the material and has finely knitted them together in such a way that the hard truths of the piece pierce in such a satisfying way. Despite the piece’s unbroken one-hour-and-fifty-minute runtime, the pace never drags and holds the audience the entire time, particularly given the TikTokification of most people’s attention spans.
Set and costume designer Soham Apte makes light work of the venue’s oddly claustrophobic performance space and has a neat few tricks up his sleeve, aided by Luna Yuet Yee Ng’s crisp lighting design.
The piece is mostly driven by James Lugton as centre-right-leaning widowed father Andy, who starts the show with a jaw-dropping, but richly human, 45-minute monologue, which, if Andy were to repeat to a psychiatrist, he’d be handed a “so you’re actually neurodivergent, now what?” pamphlet. Lugton is the right amount of vulnerable and bristly.
Lilian Alejandra Valverde bursts into the story as Natalie, the ‘say it like it actually is, not how Sky News want you to think it is’ linchpin to Andy’s desire to see his daughter again. Valverde radiates ‘don’t screw with me’ energy and perfectly captures the character’s zeal for life and capacity to see things for what they could be.
When we finally meet Maya, the estranged daughter, there is something ingenious in the fact she’s just a young woman. The story has built her arrival up so much, we expect her to come in with a bang, or at least to immediately start screaming at her father, but no, when Claudia Elbourne appears down the stairs, she’s just there, and normal. Elbourne is one to watch in future. In the short amount of time she has on stage, she certainly makes the most of it.
Collectively, Lugton, Valverde, and Elbourne are such a tight-knit ensemble, as you’d expect, but moreover, their capacity to use Bartlett’s words and Bradley’s direction to make members of all flanks of the political spectrum feel represented, but not completely validated in all of their views, is remarkable.
In Snowflake, Bartlett has created another piece that reminds audiences that no one person is perfectly good or purely bad, and that sometimes everyone can say the wrong thing, and it’s that that makes us human. Perhaps that’s part of the genius of the writing.
Is Snowflake worth seeing in Sydney?
Some may argue it’s too early for anything Christmas, and even earlier to handle family dysfunction during the holidays, but Snowflake is a cool whip of a piece of theatre filled with outstanding performances that should be viewed by multiple generations for its exploration of society’s increasing inability to talk about hard topics.
Tickets and Practical Info for Snowflake in Sydney 🎟️
The Ensemble Theatre, Kirribili
Until November 21
Tickets: www.ensemble.com.au
CAST & CREATIVES
Mike Bartlett Playwright
Jo Bradley Director
Claudia Elbourne – Cast – Maya
James Lugton – Cast – Andy
Lilian Alejandra Valverde – Cast – Natalie
Soham Apte Set & Costume Designer
Luna Yuet Yee Ng Lighting Designer
Matt Cox Lighting Mentor
Daniel Herten Composer & Sound Designer
Linda Nicholls-Gidley Dialect Coach
Chloë Dallimore Intimacy Coordinator
Lauren Tulloh Stage Manager
Geita Goarin Costume Supervisor
