IT’S a show-stopping blizzard that puts even the Wizard of Oz’s famous tornado to shame.

This is a storm that escapes the stage, blasting the audience with a wind machine, blinding them with bright white light and burying them under tons of ticker-tape, all to the rousing sounds of Carmina Burana.

Add into the auditorium a few gigantic coloured inflatable balls for the audience to enjoy a game of beach ball with and you have yourself a rather gleeful finale playtime.

Russian master Slava Polunin and his troupe of comical yet sinister clowns once again prove that there’s no show like a snow show as they return to Southampton to open their winter tour this week.

First created in 1993 and enjoyed the world over, Slava’s Snowshow famously ends with the most crowd-pleasing of send-offs, which saw my family and I – and hundreds of others – leaping around for some time even after the show had ended last night.

The first act draws to a close with the stalls trapped inside a web and terrified by a huge flying spider, and the fun continues during the interval with a water fight, balancing act and crowd contest.

But finales aside, the remainder of the show seems like a hallucination – think barking sharks, a double noose and bubble show.

Creator Slava, who stands out in yellow boiler suit, red nose and large fluffy slippers, hoped to restore a childish wonder to world-weary adults and he certainly achieves that with the festive dream-like feel of his bizarre creation.

A mild winter is forecast for 2013, but with Slava, you’re guaranteed snow.

  • Slava’s Snowshow runs until Saturday. For tickets, call 023 8071 1811 or visit mayflower.org.uk