Fairytale start to Christmas
HANSEL AND GRETEL DERBY THEATRE
ONE of the Brothers Grimm’s most popular fairy tales has been given an energetic and musical twist as it performs at Derby Theatre – just in time to put theatre-goes in a festive mood.
Many will be familiar with the story of Hansel and Gretel, the tale of a brother and sister who are taken into the woods, leaving a trail of bread crumbs which they hope will help them return home.
However, the breadcumbs disappear but the pair come across a house of treats belonging to a cunning witch.
The cannibalistic witch fattens up older brother Hansel with the aim to eat him – but will there be a happy ending?
You will just have to find out as the festive family show certainly did not disappoint.
Craig Anderson and Yana Penrose, as Hansel and Gretel respectively, led the performance firmly from curtain up and seemed just as youthful and playful as their child-aged characters were meant to be.
The dastardly “Ginger the witch”, played by Christopher Price was the perfect combination of creepy and extravagant and was certainly a show man. The ingenious rooks, six birds played by Jack Alexander, Elizabeth Eves, Tilly-Mae Millbrook, Christopher Price, Jack Quarton and Esme Sears, were a very clever and simple way of progressing the play and making set changes as smooth and seamless as possible.
A handful of stumps were sprawled across the stage, which the rooks perched on while singing, and moved around to display the vast depth and confusing nature of the woods.
Musical numbers were catchy and funny, with the talent keeping character throughout each of their individual songs.
Arguably the most memorable song came towards the latter stages of the first act when Hansel and Gretel first got themselves lost in the wood and encountered a number of other fairy tale characters including Little Red Riding Hood, a big bad wolf and Goldilocks and the three bears.
The perfect performance to get you into the festive mood, complete with a certain happy ending and sweets and chocolates thrown out to the audience during the performance.