Rob Evans . Playwright

I think this is a great review. A really interesting examination of the story.

"It’s a thrilling, gripping, moving performance – genuinely one for the whole family – which falters only in the last moments with a too-speedy ending, but leaves you with the deep sense of satisfaction of an archetypal tale being vividly retold." Mark Fisher

Mary Brennan's review in the Herald is great.
"This richly detailed jigsaw of illuminating design, evocative music and genuinely engaging performances keeps us on tenterhooks ... Look out for this family show on its Scottish tour, and have your hankies ready." ****

Press night of Caged on Saturday. It's up and running. If you want to know dates and places then click on the picture.

Pondlife has been nominated for the Theatre Centre's Brian Way Award 2011.

Pomegranates, clocks and chammy leather.

Sitting in Cardiff writing Peter Pan for the Sherman Cymru. The book is like a constantly moving thing. Once you think you've spotted its meaning, its structure, it shifts and you realise you've just pinned down the leg of an octopus.

Peter is pathetic and yet he still grabs something in all of us. We still admire him and want to be him. He's like those people you love hanging out in the pub with, but you never want round your house. Or he's the old friend from school still making you do stupid things in clubs and then disappearing before the night's even out.

And so it seems to be Wendy's story. But a bit more is required I think. To be a mother, what does that mean now? In the original she seems so secondary to Peter. If it's her Neverland then why does she spend most of her time watching and following Peter? Her only choice is to go back home. And even then it is from fear of being locked out.

"Now for most adults, ‘snow’ has become a four letter word that has fallen out of favour. But if each new bout of ‘adverse weather conditions’ leaves the grown-ups scunnered, the white stuff in all its forms - even greying slush - has an endless fascination for tots. Mr Snow would probably want to recruit these wee enthusiasts to join him in his profession: he’s a snowologist, a kind of David Attenborough of the polar wastes who seeks out different species of snow to record and classify.
Mind you - there is an Important Exam to pass, before you can pin on the official  badge and go snow-collecting. Blessyou - Mr Snow’s son - has already failed this test. Maybe because he’s a bit harum-scarum, apt to fall into day-dreaming about adventures in space as well as in snow and a little bit disobedient as well. So when he’s told, absolutely, not to touch a certain kind of snow...Oops!  Despite some little voices raised in earnest warning, Blessyou not only uses up all the magic snow - creating a fabulous light show that also brings inanimate objects on stage to life - he decides to go out, alone, and find some more.
If  writer and director Rob Evans fills the first part of Mr Snow with ingenious fun - who would have thought there were so many tricksy kinds of snow? - he moves into riskier, darker territory when an exhausted Blessyou (Steven Rae) lies down in the freezing snow and doesn’t move. The life-affirming force here isn’t just the special magic snow, it’s the unconditional love of a father (Kieran Fay’s Mr Snow) who won’t give up looking for his son. Dads in the audience did some throat-clearing at this point. The production is full of lovely whimsical touches, with Claire Halleran’s intriguingly cluttered set a treasure-trove of lateral thinking  - for instance, a half-buried wardrobe is the door, while a wall of transparent storage bags lights up for shadow-puppet sequences of  dashing sleigh-rides." Mary Brennan, The Herald, ****

Thom Dibden in the Stage liked the show. I like the show too. It's looking great. Photos to follow soon, I hope.

Mr Snow Published Wednesday 15 December 2010 at 15:36 by Thom Dibdin

Providing plenty of contextual puns and visual delights for adults, Rob Evans’ Mr Snow is a treat that will best please the upper end of its target audience of three to five year olds.

Big in ideas and long in invention, this event-filled adventure bursts with comedy, flickers with magic and even toys with the potential death of a character.

Steven Rae is entrancing as Blessyou, who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps as a snowologist, but would rather fish for fish-fingers through the ice than study for his exams. Kieran Fay has an endearingly precise manner as the father Mr Snow, who spends his time wandering the snow fields around the distant home, collecting jars of snow and bringing them back to analyse.

The exploration of the different kinds of snow - elephant, fat or lightening - is on exactly the right level for the audience members. Some of the visual gags are a bit over their heads, however.

Claire Halleran’s surreal, inventive set combines household goods - an upturned washing machine is the ice hole, while a wardrobe on its back makes the horizontal door out of their home - with tiny screens for shadow puppetry relation of some of the external scenes. Danny Krass’ spiky, electronic music evokes just the right level of danger and sparkle.