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Lyric Hammersmith presents Cinderella
photo by Helen Maybanks
Retold by Ben Power and Melly Still
Directed by Melly Still
Designer Sophia Clist
Composer and performer Terje Isungset
Lyric Hammersmith
28 November 2008 - 3 January 2009
A review by Rosie Fiore for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Let me begin by saying that the Lyric Hammersmith’s production of Cinderella may well be the most captivating, magical piece of theatre I’ve been to this year, and I heartily recommend you see it. However if you were planning on taking your impressionable four-year-old, or if you’re expecting raucous panto or sparkly Disney sweetness with cute mice and a Fairy Godmother, don’t go. I see that this weekend the Daily Mail and their cohorts of Mother Grundies have drummed up a little storm of “outrage” about supposed bad language and violence in this production. The publicity material clearly states that the show is suitable for children 7+, and also that the show is based on the original Brothers Grimm version of the story. As fairy-tale readers well know, the Brothers were grim (and gory), by nature as well as name. If ill-informed parents ignore these two crucial bits of information, then in my mind, they only have themselves to blame. Rant over, let’s get to the show. On the Lyric’s tall, narrow stage, designer Sophia Clist has created a mystical wonderland, with a spiral staircase and a forest of tall (real) silver birch trees. It’s within this space that the talented cast of six takes us through Cinderella’s story, accompanied by Terje Isungset’s astonishing music (more of this later). I shan’t provide exposition on a plot you probably know inside-out and backwards, but I will point out that Melly Still has made some interesting choices that give us a fresh perspective on an old tale: the ugly sisters are not men in drag or caricatures, just two, ordinary, slightly poisonous teenage girls, who alternate between being cruel to their naïve half-sister, and trying to win her over. The wicked stepmother is icy and disagreeable rather than overtly evil, and the most interesting character development we see is Cinderella’s father, a man who is made impotent and indifferent by the loss of his fortunes and the manipulations of his unpleasant new family. The real genius is in the deceptively simple staging. Cinderella has no fairy godmother, but her friends, the birds, are there to help and warn her. These are represented by simple handheld puppets (these looked to me as if they were mainly made from paper), which the actors cause to flutter and coo. I know these were puppets, but in my memory, the stage was full of real, fluttering birds. This wonderful theatrical ability to make us suspend our disbelief continues: when Cinderella’s father chops down a tree, he swings an axe and cast members fling bundles of sticks to the floor. The noise, the action and the ensuing litter of wood all over the stage makes us feel the invisible tree has indeed been decimated. Without giving too much away, director Melly Still manages to carry this enchantment right through the interval, when every member of the audience gets to attend the Prince’s Ball. It’s a clever device, and several small (and some slightly older) girls near me were fascinated when the handsome Prince approached them and asked if they’d seen his lost love. The cast is universally excellent, energetic and committed, and I particularly enjoyed Katherine Manners and Kelly Williams as the stepsisters. Throughout the show (and in the interval), Norwegian musician Terje Isungset fascinates with his extraordinary music. His instruments are handmade and unusual (have you ever heard a man play a bicycle wheel?), and the sounds he extracts from them are otherworldly. I wouldn’t usually include a URL in a review, but you won’t believe your eyes when you see Insungset play his ice trumpet (which he does in Cinderella). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/03/classical-music-ice-trumpet I’ll finish as I started: don’t miss this lovely production. Cinderella is the best of what makes theatre transcendent: it’s beautiful, cleverly constructed and asks us, the audience, to make our imaginations a principal player in the action. Take a child (of appropriate age), or take your inner child.
Cinderella Lyric Lyric Hammersmith
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