THEY’VE had some funny things on stage at the Playhouse. They’ve had dozens of marching Vietnamese troops in Miss Saigon; dancing cups and saucers in Beauty And The Beast; a stallion in this week’s operas, a pile of dead bodies in Greek opera Oedipus Rex - hey, they’ve even had Sheena Easton singing 9 To 5.

And now there’s going to be an ice rink set up in front of the stalls.

A SELECT few souls were at the Playhouse last night for the extravaganza which is the Wild Rose Ice Theatre’s version of the Nutcracker.

Not that the Russian ice stars altered their acts one jot. True professionals, they put in such a level of commitment that when the lights went down, you wouldn't have known that the house was not full to the rafters with adoring fans.

Here, live on stage, was a show of committed and not inconsiderable skill - at least in terms of figure ice skating. With a dazzling array of jumps, spins, flying spins and lifts , there was enough to satisfy those who were there for the skating alone.