Hansel and Gretel

Shakespeares Globe

This production of Hansel and Gretel is a bit of fun for the kids, set with a backdrop of war and themes of grief, which feels incongruous without further development.

Whilst a trip to The Globe Theatre is a lovely Christmas treat for the family. This version of Hansel and Gretel does not seem to meet the standard of the work you would expect from this historic theatre. There were a few strong moments and awkward songs filling space between scenes. It is important to note that the target audience is clearly children and families, but the show could've been a bit more colourful and characterised to meet the intended audience. The classic tale is written by The Brothers Grimm at the start of the 19th century, and the story follows a poor family with two children - Hansel and Gretel. In this version, the family leave their home due to conflict, the parents decide that the children will have a better chance of survival if they separate and subsequently leave them deep in the forest during the night. However, the children were aware of their parents' plan to leave and also made up their own! On their way back home, they stumble upon a home made from sweets and are welcomed by a witch promising lots of food and warmth... little do they know they are the food!

The strongest acting in this production was the performance of The Witch played by Beverly Rudd. She unravels her character's true dark intentions and brings a storybook character to life. She plays the old, mystical, evil character well and the audience are aware that she is the antagonist of the piece as soon as she enters the stage. Hansel played by Ned Costello and Gretel played by Yasemin Özdemir play their sibling relationship well and bounce off each other. However, their acting as small children is not believable, feels over emphasised and uncomfortable to watch at times. Whilst they work well together, their acting skills are not given justice in this production. Harry Hepple thrived in the part of Swanny, he sang the one song that was enjoyable in the piece, gave his character so much colour and was a beautiful performance that was interesting for all ages. This was his best performance. He also plays the father of the children. However, this character does not have much depth, and the audience are as drawn to this character as the vibrant Swanny.

The set feels empty until the gingerbread house scene. The children sleep on a table which seems to symbolise bunk beds, there are tents dotted around the stage which the ensemble place themselves in throughout the piece. The minimal stage emphasizes the lack of essentials the family has and their struggle. However, the lack of set does not give the piece the fairytale style, it made the production feel empty and unfinished at times. This highlights the gingerbread house scene, because it is such a change of set. It brings the fairytale to life, the house is colourful and realistic. The children start to eat parts of the home, which makes it believable, and this brought magic to the stage. However, this is the only strong section of the piece and feels like all the time was spent giving this section of the story its quality. Whilst it is the most interesting part of the story and deserves attention, it differs from the quality of the rest of the piece. The inclusion of the scene when the children are on their way home and an inflatable swan is wheeled onto the stage through the audience gives the impression of a swan floating across a pond, this was a really interesting moment! Very welcome choice.

The production is short, and it only lasts an hour, however moments do feel prolonged. Including songs in the piece felt awkward and tainted the quality of the piece, because the instruments and voices did not fill the theatre in the way intended, moments felt too quiet and sometimes a little rough. Whilst the show has some strong moments, they are short lived, and the quality of the show does not match the quality of the shows The Globe usually puts on. The production also does not seem to bring the fairytale to life and keep children in the audience engaged throughout. The inclusion of the father fighting in the war and the grieving family did not have enough emphasis and is only mentioned a small number of times at the beginning, then when the family are reunited and the father isn't there it feels a shock to find out he is fighting in the war; it just needed to be made clearer throughout, this would make it less confusing for the audience and gave the story more depth for the older audience members to enjoy the story.

This show is clearly made for children, but lacks vibrance and fairytale style. The show feels unfinished, could have better quality if the set was not as minimalistic and the characters were more stylised/characterised. An average show to entertain young children, not quite the choice of show this Christmas.