Slava's Snowshow to play at the Helen Hayes Theatre

Foster Mollison Entertainment are to present the Olivier Award-winning Slava's Snowshow, a clown show created by created by Slava Polunin, opening at the Helen Hayes Theatre on 7 Dec 2008, following previews from 2 Dec, for a strictly limited engagement ending on 4 Jan 2009.

Foster Mollison Entertainment are to present the Olivier Award-winning Slava's Snowshow: Weather warning! The forecast is for smoke and fog effects, occasional loud music, brief showers, high winds and plenty of snow. Skies will be clear at first with clowns increasing, becoming more mischievous. The show culminates in a swirling snowstorm that sweeps across the stage, filling the theatre and engulfing the audience.

The show, directed by Victor Kramer and designed by Victor Plotkinov, is performed by a cast of 10 clowns. starring Slava Polunin.

Slava's Snowshow played a record breaking run at off-Broadway's Union Square Theatre from Sep 2004 - Jan 2007, where it ran for 1,004 performances and still holds the record as the highest grossing show in the theatre's history. The production had its world premiere in Oct 1993 in Moscow and has since toured extensively, playing over 25 countries around the globe.

Slava Polunin was born in a small town in Russia, far from the big city. His childhood was spent in the forests, fields and by a river. He lived in the world of fantasies, and liked to invent new things and make up stories. He built four-story tree houses and snow towns and organized funny parties for friends. Through TV and cinema, he fell in love with the great clowns and mimes. His biggest dream was to become a clown. He was so passionate about this that, at the age of 17, he went to Leningrad and joined a mime studio and so began his long-term quest to reclaim and re-establish the art and craft of the true clown. Influenced by great artists such as Chaplin, Marcel Marceau and Engibarov and building on his innate talents, Slava and his theatre company, Litsedei, founded in 1979, took clowning out of the circus onto streets, and from there into the major theatres of the world.