The Children's Theatre Ed Pack (2007)

The Arts - Page Five

The Snow Queen Synopsis

 The story of the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, tells the story of Gerda’s journey to find her friend Kay who has been taken by the Snow Queen.

 The Snow Queen begins with the creation of a mirror by a wicked goblin. The mirror twists all that is good until it is distorted and ugly. As the goblin and his friends to fly with the mirror, it shatters into a million fragments and some of these find their way into the hearts and eyes of little boys and girls.

 One such boy is Kay who lives next door to his best friend Gerda. They play together as often as they can, until one winter’s day, a fragment pierce’s Kay’s heart and this makes him angry and unhappy. It is then that the Snow Queen comes and charms Kay to ride in her sleigh, over the dark wastes to her frozen palace to the North.

 Gerda won’t accept that Kay is gone and sets out on a magical journey to find him. During her adventures she talks to all living things and learns that Kay is not dead but under the spell of the Snow Queen and that she should continue on her journey.

 She meets the old lady in the Enchanted Flower Garden; the Prince and Princess; the little Robber Maiden; the Lapland woman and the Finland woman and she finally arrives at the Snow Queen’s palace.

 When she sees Kay so cold and alone she cries, and her tears melt the fragment in his heart, returning him to life. Winter has become summer and Gerda and Kay return home – hand in hand.

 ·        The Snow Queen has been made into a science-fiction book, a play (and pantomime), numerous movies and even a computer game.