North East theatre group set to bring Disney’s Frozen to the stage in Jarrow

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A Sunderland-based theatre company is bringing Disney’s Frozen to Jarrow.

Centre Stage North East, a Sunderland-based theatre company, are bringing a stage version of the hit Disney film Frozen to the stage in Jarrow.

The production, titled Disney’s Frozen Jr, will be at Jarrow Focus on Saturday, August 3, and Sunday, August 4 - with shows at 12pm and 2.30pm each day.

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Ahead of the production launching in Jarrow this weekend the show’s director, Fiona Clegg, has given an insight into what audiences can expect from the Disney’s Frozen Jr.

Members of the cast of Disney’s Frozen Jr from left: Alma Finnegan as Sven, Darcy Ranasinghe as Elsa, Lily McGee as Anna, and Alison Foster as Olaf.Members of the cast of Disney’s Frozen Jr from left: Alma Finnegan as Sven, Darcy Ranasinghe as Elsa, Lily McGee as Anna, and Alison Foster as Olaf.
Members of the cast of Disney’s Frozen Jr from left: Alma Finnegan as Sven, Darcy Ranasinghe as Elsa, Lily McGee as Anna, and Alison Foster as Olaf. | Centre Stage North East

She said: “It’s a really magical film, and the stage show is even more so.

“We have worked really hard to do the story justice with some state-of-the-art technology, including a giant video wall that will provide us with fully animated backdrops.

“Sometimes when this show is done, the characters of Olaf the snowman and Sven the reindeer are played by people in costumes.

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“But we knew from the start that we wanted these characters brought to life with puppets. The problem we had was finding them.

“There aren’t many available to hire in the UK and we didn’t really like any of them.”

Fiona’s husband Mark, who has run Centre Stage with her for 30 years, stepped in to match puppets for the first time in his life to ensure that the characters can be portraited well in the show.

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He added: “I started with Olaf who seemed the easier of the two.

“I watched a lot of tutorials online, and took time to create the design before I started building him. It took a little trial and error, but he came together surprisingly quickly.

“He can blink and move his arms, as well as walk and talk.

“Sven walks on four legs in the film, and I wanted that here too, while avoiding the old two-person ‘pantomime horse’ costume.

“So this Sven has four legs that move realistically – all operated by one person who also controls his head. It’s complicated but the results are magical.”

Tickets for the shows are priced from £10 and are available by visiting: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/csne.

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