If you go down to the woods today, tomorrow, or indeed for any of the giddying 102 performances of this 70-minute Christmas show with a twist, you’ll find that the Barbican Theatre and its backstage areas have been transformed into an eerie, magical forest. Here, Catherine Wheels Theatre Company leads audiences in an inventive promenade production that’s big on atmosphere but short on script.
It’s surprising that the age recommendation for the piece is eight plus, as it seems that younger children will respond best to the visual magic that director Gill Robertson and designer Karen Tennent conjure up.
Yet before we get to the gauze trees, fairy lights, sinister dolls and mysterious echoes that make up the unsettling outdoors, there is much for adults to enjoy in Hansel and Gretel’s decidedly Seventies home. Some fantastic trappings from the era have been sourced: The Goodies are on TV and the synthetic slacks and pullovers are various shades of ill-matched brightness. Maybe it was the daily sight of the young pair’s perky bobble hats that finally tipped wicked Stepmother over the edge.
The logistics of marshalling people into and around confined spaces can prove tricky at times. Nonetheless, we follow cellist Hannah Marshall, whose haunting music sets an assured tone for this story of a home that’s markedly less than sweet, and end up as party hat-wearing guests at the Witch’s feast of cakes. There, Gretel (Natalie Dew) gets to demonstrate her oven-based ingenuity, while poor old Hansel (Dylan Kennedy) is fattened up as the Witch’s supper.
Lovely as all this is, it would be good to hear just a few more words from everyone concerned. Dew and Kennedy have little to do except cower and whimper, and Cassie Friend, as Stepmother and Witch, says next to nothing. Without dialogue to back it up, the sense of mortal peril, which so pervades the original fairytale, remains disappointingly undercooked.
Until 4 January (020 7638 8891, www.barbican.org.uk).
Hansel And Gretel
Barbican Theatre
Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
