Theatre and Dance Previews

Harry Potter is not the first intrepid boy hero to capture the imagination of children and adults alike. Back in 1929, long before the young wizard first boarded the train for Hogwarts, the Belgian writer Hergé created Tintin, the globe-trotting cub reporter. And ever since, succeeding generations of fans have thrilled to his comic strip adventures.

You may have read about the recent doubts expressed about the book ‘Tintin in the Congo’, and its outdated portrayal of the people of the Congo.

But there’s no doubt at all about the success of ‘Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin’ the stage show based on ‘Tintin in Tibet’ that’s about to start its UK tour in Watford, after rave reviews and sell-out performances in London last year.

If you’re a Tintin fan yourself, you won’t be disappointed – all your favourite characters are brought wonderfully and faithfully to life, including Tintin’s faithful sidekick, Snowy the dog, and the irascible Captain Haddock. You’ll thrill to a tale of excitement and mystery as well as loyalty and friendship, as Tintin braves the snows of the Himalayas to find his missing friend Chang. You’ll quake before the mighty Yeti – yes the Abominable Snowman actually appears onstage, if anything larger than life!

Like the books – and all right, if you insist, like Harry Potter – this is a show that will appeal to all members of the family – I’ve seen it and I defy you not to love every second! So when I heard that it’s off on a countrywide tour that not only starts at the Watford Palace Theatre this summer, but also takes it to Milton Keynes in October, I couldn’t wait to see it again – and for a chance to catch up with two of the terrific cast as they rehearsed at the Watford Palace. I spoke to Miltos Yeromelou, who will be showing dogged determination as Snowy, and to Hertfordshire lass Nicola Blackwell, who has family just down the road from the theatre, in Bricket Wood.

Herges Adventures of Tintin

Nicola gets to play all the female roles in this fast and furious show. I last met her at the National Theatre, when she was playing an aerial goddess-like Maggie Thatcher (yes, really …) in ‘Market Boy’, a play set in the 1980s, in the heyday of Thatcherism. She was thrilled to be performing on the family patch, and at their favourite theatre too. “I’m staying with them during ‘tech’ week and they'll be coming!” she says excitedly.

Nicola and Miltos were excited to find that the show has some spectacular new features for the tour – and this may be why Miltos is having a bit of an identity crisis. He actually played the Yeti in the original production, so from being a large brown scary, hairy beast, he’s now getting into the role of a small white cute furry one. Although he relishes the role of Snowy, he does confess that his first glimpse of an all new, even bigger and scarier Yeti costume gave him paws (GROAN) for thought …

“I’m over the moon playing Snowy, and it’s great – I’m having a ball”, he says. “But how they’re reinterpreting the Yeti costume it’s going to be something quite amazing!” As he speaks, I think I can detect a distinctly Snowy sort of growl …