THE winter term is over today, and so the school shows of The Snow Queen will make way for afternoon and evening shows for all the family – and it is worth the journey.

Your reviewer attended the 10am show on Monday, a performance packed with understandably excited school parties, and their response is always a litmus test of whether a show is working or not. Put in a nutshell, in Sven Goran Eriksson argot in his England management days: first half, a little fidgety; second half, better.

Artistic director Chris Monks has been very true to Hans Christian Andersen’s original stories in his new adaptation, retaining all seven of them, which means he starts with the Trolls, and very weird-headed and scary Trolls they are too. So much so, a few children can be seen asking to swap places to sit next to the nearest teacher. There is nothing else to send them for cover, even if the Snow Queen (Katie Hayes) is mighty icy.

Monks is right to include the Trolls, to set the story of the mirror and its broken pieces in place, and the twisting, suspended mirror is one of the most spectacular sights of a show that also makes good use of the walkways and trapdoors in the Round for dramatic entries.

The Trolls never reappear, making way for Gran (Janine Birkett) and the boy, Kai (Graeme Dalling) and his best friend, Gerda (Abigail Hood), both dressed in modern clothing to bring them up to date for a young audience.

The stories rooted in Scandinavian myth and folklore are performed by a cast of seven, the multiple role-playing being delegated to Birkett, Emily Alexander, Charlotte Higgins and Theo Ogundipe in no fewer than six parts, ranging from a stoic Reindeer to a Sunflower and a River. Oh, the delights of a Christmas show for an actor!

Monks’s adaptation is a little heavy on the storytelling detail in the first half, which could account for the fidgeting, but the visual panache, colourful characterisation and dramatic dialogue work superbly the more Gerda progresses in her epic journey across the Northern Lands to rescue Kai from the grip of the Snow Queen. Wit and adventure, tension and wonderment abound.

No doubt, everyone will have their favourites among the extraordinary characters Gerda encounters, but two Alexander cameos are likely to top any poll: her artful Little Robber Girl and, above all others, her Raven Ralf, whose strut is the show’s comic highlight. Her costume, black and white striped leggings and all, is but one of many delightful creations by designer Sue Condie.

Praise too for Monks using the talents of 12 children from Scarborough, split into the Ice Team and Snow Team after taking part in a summer school. This is one way forward for repertory theatres in more financially straitened times.

The Snow Queen, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until January 8 2011. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.co.uk