‘We will not be afraid of Blue Beards anymore!’
DIRECTOR EMMA RICE SHARES HER INSPIRATION FOR BRINGING A GRUESOME FOLK STORY ABOUT A WIFE KILLER TO THE STAGE
THE folk story Blue Beard took on a new meaning for writer Emma Rice following the brutal murder and sexual assault of Zara Aleena by a serial offender in 2022.
“I’d actually never liked the story of Blue Beard. I love fairy tales, but this is one I’d always avoided”, she says.
“I thought it was just about controlling women, telling them off for asking questions and being curious. But something changed a couple of years ago, and the story started to nag at me.
“I have become more and more haunted by the regular chime of women being attacked, murdered and abused.
‘‘Sarah Everard’s shocking murder [by off duty Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Cousins] and the ensuing chaos of her vigil captured the public’s imagination.
‘‘However, for me, it was the murder of Zara Aleena that really brought home my anger and made me think about adapting Blue Beard.
“She was just walking home. A week later her family, friends and people she would never know, met at the spot where she was killed and walked her memory home.
‘‘This was the moment that I knew I wanted to walk Blue Beard’s victims home. I wanted to use my craft, my platform, and my experience to make a small difference.”
Emma says that she realised that she wanted to tell this story, not to understand or excuse Blue Beard, but to breathe life into the women he tried to control.
She wanted to express not just the rage, grief and heartbreak so many feel at lives cut short, but also to celebrate brilliant living women in all their wild and surprising glory. Her version of Blue Beard is very definitely about the women, about celebrating women.
“It’s about saying enough is enough! We will not be afraid anymore,” she adds.
“Blue Beard has the weight and power of a classic drama – almost Shakespearean and most definitely Greek in structure, I hope audiences will feel entertained, moved and transported. ‘‘We have found the subject matter very powerful in rehearsals and there have been lots of laughter and tears. I hope audiences will share the joy, the darkness, the fury and the hope. It certainly won’t be boring!”
Blue Beard is the fifth show Emma has made for her company Wise Children, which launched in 2018 after her very public departure from Shakespeare’s Globe.
Before that, she ran the muchloved, but now closed, Kneehigh Theatre company. Many of Emma’s most successful works for Kneehigh were based on folk tales, like Blue Beard.
Music is key to her shows. As a practitioner of ‘devised theatre’, she always works closely with a composer, who is present throughout the rehearsal process, shaping, refining and reworking the music as the production develops.
“Music is shot through this magical tale. I’m working with my longtime friend and collaborator Stu Barker, who I also worked with on Brief Encounter, Tristan & Yseult, and many, many more,” she says. “Stu is a composing genius, who knows just when a song, a sting or an underscore is needed. I’m particularly loving working on this show because almost all my actors are also musicians. This means the music comes straight out of the heart of the show: it is all performed live by this incredibly talented ensemble of actor-musicians.
‘‘They jump seamlessly between playing and acting, and I marvel at their talent. The songs are dynamite, and I go to sleep with them running through my head and wake up singing them.”
In Emma’s version of the tale, the character of Blue Beard is a magician, and we see part of his magic show onstage.
“He can make coins vanish and cards appear, cut ladies in half and throw knives. It has been brilliant fun and creates fantastic ‘old school’ entertainment.
“I decided to make my Blue Beard a magician because it felt like a
funny and surprising way to explore themes of lies, control and violence. ‘‘The glamour of the magician’s assistant, mixed with the casual misogyny of these enduring acts creates a heady cocktail which is the perfect match for Blue Beard.” Although at times the show is challenging to watch with themes of male violence and control, it is shot through with hope, comedic moments and a great deal of stagecraft that means the dark undertones are never graphic.
“I don’t think audiences will come away thinking everything’s awful and it’s never going to change. Instead, I want people to look these issues squarely in the eye and think, ‘The world does not have to be like this, and I feel inspired to do something about it’.
“It’s also worth saying that I’m not a ‘naturalistic’ director. We use lots of different storytelling techniques to give the subject layers and nuance. This means a violent act could feature on stage as a dance, or a song. It won’t be graphic and unpleasant. Sometimes violence is suggested, sometimes it is shown in a metaphorical way and, at the end, we have a huge, bloody real life struggle.”
Blue Bear is at the Birmingham Rep from April 9-20.
The glamour of the magician’s assistant, mixed with the casual misogyny of these enduring acts creates a heady cocktail which is the perfect match for Blue Beard