Perusing blogs on theatre and puppetry last week, I stumbled across this blog post about the beautiful puppets under construction for the world premier of Hansel and Gretel at the 2018 Cheltenham Music Festival. It was sheer coincidence that the event was so close to home but a sure sign that I ought to book a ticket and I wasn’t disappointed.
The pop-up event at the intimate Parabola Arts Centre (the performance venue attached to the esteemed Cheltenham Ladies College) was close to full, even on an incredibly hot summer’s evening. And the attraction hosted a rather more mature and respectful audience than the England match celebrations that echoed outside the building’s parameter.
Producer, Kate Romano’s new UK tour is a performance of layers, harmonising the talents across all areas of the arts: Clive Hicks-Jenkins, author of Clive Hicks-Jenkins’ Artlog, provided the visual direction, inspired by Simon Armitage’s re-write of the Classic fairytale. Hicks-Jenkins marries stunningly precise and delicate use of table-top puppets in front of a screen that projected a close up live-filming of the puppetry enhanced by paper-cut graphic design sequences. A true multi-media spectacle.
Armitage’s poetry is delivered by narrator and opera singer, Adey Grummet, who arrives on stage with a magical book that lights-up upon opening and battles for attention with the cheeky puppet-children, putting a clear stamp of style on the production as a whole. This, she exudes, is not a children’s tale for the weak or faint of heart.
The spoken word is enhanced by the evocative strains of the five piece chamber orchestra. The compositional work of Matthew Kaner combines the use of clarinets, a horn, a cello and cor anglais with percussion from toy pianos which chime in with the patter of unsettling nursery rhymes and Grummet’s haunting operatic lilt.
The story is as grimly dark as the original. The telling is somewhat clunky, which renders it fittingly uneasy to listen to and, at times, naughty, intended to shock. But where the quirky and suggestive music ties the piece together, it is the skilled and emotive puppeteering that steals our hearts.
Jan Zalud’s creations (designed and commissioned by Hicks-Jenkins) are breathed into life by the masters of miniature subtlety, Diana Ford and Lizzie Wort. Ford and Wort lead us to be enchanted by the petty rivalry of the bickering siblings vying for the top bunk of the bed. The endearing poignance of the tender love that evolves between Hansel and Gretel results from the helpless plight of two vulnerable children lost in the woods but it is the timing and precision of Ford and Wort that guides us there. A touch, a look, even in miniature, speaks volumes.
The tour, ‘suitable for adults, teenagers and adventurous children over ten’, demands a level of patience from the observer. Parents should be under no illusion that this is a fun and engaging theatrical performance. It is a cultural demonstration of high level skill that requires both acceptance and appreciation of the arts so should be booked with this in mind.
Hansel and Gretel tours the UK until November 4th. Do follow the blog links above to see fabulous pictures of the design process.
A Little Life Rounded 
Wow – Adey Grummet’s narration sounds amazing!
LikeLike
Thank you so much for this lovely and articulate review – we really do appreciate it! Kate (Goldfield Productions Artistic Director) & the Hansel & Gretel team x
LikeLiked by 1 person
In spite of seeing a successful production of The Big Friendly Giant, I am not convinced that shows based largely on puppets are worth the effort involved. Big screen or TV animations can do the job better. Shouldn’t theatre be reserved for live actors, and the attention be focussed on acting rather than spectacle? I would prefer to see a good play with lousy sets than a poorly-acted piece with the most sumptuous sets.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading and commenting again. I’m very grateful to you for supporting my blog. 😊
I agree in that nothing is more important than the acting, to my mind. However, puppetry has such a magical power. It’s bewitching. If done well, the audience are transfixed even though they know the puppets are not believable. That’s the power of love theatre at its roots: asking the audience to accept the illusion and respond to it.
Big puppetry fan here! I’m just working on another review after seeing puppetry used in a piece of new writing last night. The puppets were used well and worked in the piece but I do feel there’s more of a place for them in certain styles of theatre. Magic realism, dark fairytales… Kneehigh Theatre Company have done both exquisite and hilarious pieces incorporating puppetry. And nobody can question the impressive work of Handspring in War Horse. Do watch some footage of this if you haven’t seen it. Incredible!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I must be in the minority, because BFG is coming back for a second run next year. Mind you, there the human actors also have a lot to do.
For sheer theatre entertainment, though a show like the brilliant ‘Camelot’ we had here recently is my cup of tea.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Hansel and Gretel tour opens! – Matthew Kaner