The Royal Lyceum Edinburgh gives us a sparkly look behind the scenes at their Christmas production, The Snow Queen

Their annual show is a festive highlight and they’ve pulled out all the stops for 2023

Snow Queen dress

Forget the Christmas countdown, as it’s even fewer sleeps until Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre premieres their festive show.

When I visit their vast set and costume department in Roseburn, it’s quietly frenetic, as they prepare for the November 23 opening of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, which is written by Morna Young and directed by Cora Bissett.

I’m being shown round by Comrie-based set and costume designer, Emily James. This Edinburgh College of Art graduate has worked for multiple venues, including Bristol Old Vic and the Traverse, but it’ll be her first time designing for this theatre. They asked her to get involved back in 2019, before Covid hit and plans were postponed.

Maquette of the Lyceum

“It's been such a journey and we're all so excited to finally be able to hit that green button,” says James. “It was hard to put it on hold and as a designer you can't just push pause. The ideas are brewing, so it's been a huge relief to finally get going. For me personally, I was born and bred in Edinburgh, so this is such an exciting time”.

She leads me upstairs to the costume area.

There are workstations up here, but this is also where they store the outfits from productions past, and I look out for the pieces that were in their 2022 show, An Edinburgh Christmas Carol. They’re somewhere, amongst endless rails of clothing, which is organised into categories that include eras and the amusingly titled ‘Nuns Priests Monks Academics’.

There will be around 55 costumes in the new show, and currently a member of staff is sewing the oversized paws for a black and white cat, while the feathery crow wings for a main character, Corbie, are strewn across a table.

Flower hats for the Lyceum production

The team have been working on this show since August, and tell me that they often go home covered in glitter.

There are twinkly snowflakes and embellished sleeves on one desk and I spot a rainbow kilt and multicoloured wig, both of which belong to Hamish the unicorn. According to James, this character will also be donning spats and is vaguely inspired by Elvis. She also points out the flower hats with designs including an iris and a poppy, as well as the blue-haired latex troll masks, based on the Eighties toys. As James says, “It’s a family Christmas show and we’re constantly thinking about those children in the audience”.

And then, on a dummy, there is an early incarnation of the outfit for the Snow Queen, who will be played by Shetland cast member Claire Dargo. Inspired by glaciers and the Blue Lady ghost that’s said to haunt the Lyceum, it features layers of icy aquamarine tulle, with the prerequisite amount of twinkle. The jacket on the top gives the look a bit of regal authority.

“When I was designing it I was researching military costumes and riding clothes,” says James. “So we've got that as the top half and then this lovely blizzard of gauzy snowflakes and embellishment. There’s a very icy crown as well”.

Original sketch for Hamish the unicorn Pic: Emily James

I do notice a lot of buttons on everything, and the undoing of these has to be accounted for. The department always has to consider practicalities, as there are some speedy changes required. Their costume supervisor, Christine Dove, is well prepared for that. She also reveals that, despite the inevitable sweating under the stage lights, they don’t always need to launder the clothes. However, if they do require refreshment, Dove is usually tasked with spraying them after the performance, using her own cocktail of vodka and essential oils.

Downstairs, they’re just as industrious while working on the set, which includes painting an archway of faux stone blocks and hardback books made from polystyrene. There’s a snowy Edinburgh Castle prop, and something that looks like a blue and gold sleigh - well, the villainous Queen has to get back to her frozen kingdom somehow. Some intrepid person in the department has also sourced a huge collection of antique wooden skis.

I have to keep quiet about some elements, as the production is packed with an advent calendar’s worth of surprises. However, James does show me her stage maquette. It’s inspired by the theatre’s curves and the symmetrical paper cuttings that Hans Christian Andersen used to make.

“Everywhere I looked in the auditorium, with its flowing undulating lines. I just felt that the Queen's palace was emerging out of the fabric of the building. The design unfolded from there,” she says. “I just love the idea of an illusion and that the audience is almost certainly looking at this mirror of the auditorium. And then I've designed all these sort of ‘tricksy’ things. For the team, it's been quite an exciting challenge. The designs almost become a love letter to the building”.

Emily James

In fat, the show will be set in 1883 - the year that the Lyceum first opened.

“That just felt right. And I was also quite interested in the Art Nouveau movement, which was starting to emerge at that point,” says James. “It felt like something that we could tap into, for the costumes and there's certainly a lot of fantasy. Of all the Christmas shows, this has just got it all”.

The Snow Queen is at The Royal Lyceum (30b Grindlay Street, Edinburgh) from November 23 until December 31, see www.lyceum.org.uk)