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Theatre listings > Home - East Lothian - World Premiere. One of ten specially created productions for the opening of the National Theatre of Scotland. Director - Gill Robertson - Artistic Director of Catherine Wheels. Designer - Karen Tennent. Lighting Designer - Jeanine Davies. Composer - Steve Kettley. Company - National Theatre of Scotland NTS Company Website. Cast - here. Venue & Dates - Secret Location, East Lothian. Dates - 23-25 Feb 2006. Run Time - 2 hours 30 Minutes including bus ride to and from Brunton. Reviewer - Eddie Thornton. World of dark absurdity.
The familiar tale of Hansel and Gretel, their wicked stepmother and their feeble but loving father is brought closer to our times by the founder of Catherine Wheels, Scotland's leading children's theatre company. To Steve Kettley's haunting musical accompaniment, Robertson creates a world of dark absurdity that film director Tim Burton would be proud of. Her characters are animated to the point of caricature and evoke wide eyed wonder from children and adults alike. Cath Whitefield in the parts of both the wicked stepmother and the witch is mesmerising, her ability to command an audience of all seven ages is truly skilful. Left alone in the forest the two children, James Anthony Pearson and Susan Harrison try to find their way home, and we make the journey with them, a candle lit walk through the woods leads us to them as they sit huddled together while genuinely frightening sound effects erupt from all around us. A carnival atmosphere takes over as bright lights and circus music lead us further into the forest towards the witch's confectionery inspired house where a spread designed by Karen Tennant, and equalled only in a hungry child's imagination covers a huge wooden table. With party hat on head and flumps clutched in hand, it's absolutely impossible not to be completely drawn in to this skew-whiff world of magic and mayhem. It's one of those extremely rare moments in theatre where you wish you could stop the action, gather everyone you know, and give them a chance to see it too. Robertson has set the precedent, and if the NTS continues to produce work of this calibre there can be no question of its worth to Scottish culture. © Eddie Thornton 24 February 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Cast - Cath Whitefield, James Anthony Pearson and Susan Harrison. Musicians - Robin Mason and Steve Kettley. Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions. |
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