MODERN versions of fairytales are often coated in sugar, sucked dry of venom and finished off by a happy ending.

Not so Ullaloom’s take on Hans Christian Anderson’s 130-year-old story The Snow Queen.

This version may have an cheerful conclusion but there is plenty of darkness along the way. Not so much that children in the audience will be haunted by nightmares, but just enough to ensure the grown-ups are enchanted too.

We follow Gerda’s (Lauren Silver’s) journey as she travels to rescue her friend Kai (Jamie Stuart) from the icy clutches of the cold hearted Snow Queen (Rosie McLaughlin), encountering a series of unusual characters along the way.

The winding plot showcases the diversity of Filippo Fiori and Lucy Fiori as an eternally Charlestoning couple, a motley theatre group and a nice-but-dim polar bear, and allows for plenty of songs and a tiny bit of audience participation (kids only).

Director and composer Patrick Dineen has created a soundscape that swings between disconcerting and Disney on speed, helping to create a fantasy land of snow expressed by swathes of white fabric and a few clever theatrical tricks.

In The Snow Queen, the Unity has done its 21-year tradition of retelling classic stories proud.

LAURA DAVIS