Scottish Ballet: Hansel & Gretel
| 13 Dec 2016
Published by The Skinny magazine.
Magic, humour, a frisson of scariness, a celebration of food and a happy ending: Hansel & Gretel, choreographed by Christopher Hampson, is perfect for a Christmas family outing
This revival of Hampson’s 2013 production, using music from Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera plus other pieces, grew from outreach sessions exploring what really matters to children: loving parents, and food. There’s no wicked step-mother, the witch is not too terrifying, and, charmingly, local children appear on stage.
On stage, a fridge – empty except for beer – and a TV dominate, alongside an ironic ‘Home Sweet Home’ sign. The boozy father (Evan Loudon)’s staggering dance with his cronies, and clowning about with cigarette-smoking mother (Marge Hendrick), are humourously done. Later on, in the children’s dream, she is an Audrey Hepburn and he's in black-tie; still smoking and drinking, albeit more classily. The dance of the rebellious Hansel (Andrew Peasgood) and his bossy elder sister, Gretel (Bethany Kingsley-Garner) is convincingly childlike, hungry but playful. Unlike in the Grimm original, their sortie is an adventure.
And here the scary magic begins: Araminta Wraith's Witch, whom we first see as a teacher, is glimpsed as a glamour puss surrounded by rockers. Transformed into a moon fairy, her cloak streaming, she is held aloft by her now-feathery henchmen, hints that her beauty is drawn from her evil suggested by jagged hand-shapes.
Act One in the forest drags a little, despite an atmospheric set. It’s saved by the ravens, their leaps a highlight, as well as a banquet dream sequence with plenty of colourfully-costumed waiters, waitresses, chefs, and cute strawberry tarts. The Sandman (Christopher Harrison), reminiscent of Johnny Depp, is fatally alluring and in Act Two, Dewdrop tutu-clad ballerinas perform a classical routine to please balletomanes.
The pièce de resistance comes, of course, when the fairy takes off her wig, revealing a scabby hunchback witch, her hobbling both scary and humourous. A shame then that there’s a dramatic faux pas: the shocking beheading of the teddy followed by an anodyne scene of floppy toys which cancels out the impact. But hooray, it’s the teddy-hugging Hansel who pushes the witch into the oven.
Hansel & Gretel by Scottish Ballet
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 10 - Sat 31 Dec, various times, £14.50-£43.50 (plus concs); £11 stand-by tickets for Under 26s. For details of audio-described performances, Wee Hansel & Gretel, pre-show talks, and family insights, click here. Also touring to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness in January 2017.
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 10 - Sat 31 Dec, various times, £14.50-£43.50 (plus concs); £11 stand-by tickets for Under 26s. For details of audio-described performances, Wee Hansel & Gretel, pre-show talks, and family insights, click here. Also touring to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness in January 2017.
