REVIEW: HANSEL AND GRETEL, SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE
Modern Retelling is a Sweet Treat for Kids with a Poignant Refugee Story for Adults
The Globe’s modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel is the perfect, sweet treat for little ones, with a moving tale about refugees for older theatre-goers.
My six-year-old daughter and I follow the trail of bread crumbs to The Globe - which is astonishingly beautiful, even in the rain - for this timely retelling, which has returned for its second year with a shorter, more child-friendly version.
Britain’s Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage has transformed the Brothers Grimm classic into a beautiful, one-hour poem, performed by the cast with songs, dance and magical effects.
We meet a woodcutting dad and bread-making mother who leave their two children in the woods to protect them from a war-torn village.
The references to conflict and grief are delicately presented to go over the heads of little ones like my daughter, while striking an emotional chord with the adults.
Hansel (Ned Costello) and Gretel (Yasemin Ӧzdemir) sing movingly about missing the normalities of home, “wearing yellow PJs and snacks after tea,” and there are charming effects, like the giant bird puppets which flock around our heads, eating the trail of breadcrumbs.
An enormous gingerbread house explodes onto the stage, joined by the witch (Beverly Rudd) who steals the show as well as the siblings. She arrives looking like Mrs Doubtfire and flanked by her black puffer coated mob, who wear demonic masks.
She’s played with fabulous slapstick and energy, as a hilarious and tough Northern granny, straight out of Royston Vasey.
My daughter’s favourite scene shows the witch singing a cake-addled number, while force-feeding Hansel, as hungry Gretel cooks and cleans. It ends with the witch disappearing head first into a giant pot, to be turned into an enormous sweet by the vengeful siblings.
Children are thrilled by the surreal sight of a giant, inflatable swan gliding through the stunning, moonlit theatre. The white-suited gondolier tempts the uneasy pair onto the boat with a darkly poignant song about trust, reminding them about all the others who have braved it to safety in the past.
For children, this is a fun scene from the pair’s adventure. But the all-too familiar orange life vests worn by Hansel and Gretel and the fear, trust and desperate hope they show in this scene is enormously moving, especially given the innocent, laughing faces of little audience members, enjoying the swan inflatable, blissfully unaware of its tragic significance.
There is an emotional reunion with their mother at her tent, and a worrying hint that their father might not have survived, which would have been a bit too much for a kid’s Christmas show.
Thankfully, the stress-eating of my daughter’s pick ’n’ mix was uncalled for, and he returns unscathed for the big finale, which arrives in a gorgeous flurry of falling snow, songs and giant, dancing sweets. It's an extraordinary experience, watching this show outdoors, hugged by this historic landmark.
Afterwards, I start to explain the refugee subplot that my daughter has missed, but she cuts me off to laugh about the witch falling in the pot, and we both return to our own home, after enjoying the production in very different ways.
Hansel & Gretel, Shakespeare's Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, London SE1 9DT. Tickets from £5 (standing, off-peak) to £55 (seated, peak performances) Until 5 January.
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