Hansel and Gretel review, The Cottesloe

It's hard to get it wrong with a Christmas show, especially with a generous budget and access to the best writers, performers and designers in the business, so how has Katie Mitchell so misjudged a Christmas favourite like Hansel and Gretel?

Just say no

The script is a collaboration with the writer Lucy Kirkwood and designer Vicki Mortimer, who clearly didn't get the point of the gingerbread house. A piece of cardboard with candy cane cut-outs is neither enticing nor scary. Nor is a set that looks like a Blue Peter model made by grown ups with great scissor control. Ruby Bentall and Dylan Kennedy look too old to be the leads, and are presented as cold and mechanical.

Gangly Amit Shah, doubling as the wicked stepmother and one of the Brothers Grimm who top and tail proceedings, leavens the mood, and there is some B+ puppetry. The interesting props - a 'confabulator' and a walking oven - are wasted in a set lacking magic, depth, colour or surprise. Katie Mitchell's direction, usually so original and idiosyncratic, is dull. A classic story in which two neglected siblings rid the world of a sweetie-toting witch who cannibalises children, is presented with little tension or menace or, in its resolution, joy.

In conclusion: Theatrical convention is that casts get two curtain calls. This show barely managed one as the audience was heading for the exits within seconds of the end. It pleases neither children nor adults.

References
Cottesloe Theatre, tickets
Fiona Mountford review in The Evening Standard