Peter Viney's Blog

Hans Christian Andersen
New Version by Nancy Harris

Directed & Choreographed by Kimberley Rampersand
Set and Costume by Colin Richmond
Composer Marc Teitler
Illusionist Paul Kieve

The Swan Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company
Stratford-upon-Avon
Saturday 11th January 2025, 13.00

CAST
Nikki Cheung- Karen, the orphan
Sebastian Torkia – Narrator / Sylvester the shoemaker / Priest
James Doherty- Bob Nugent, adoptive father
Dianne Pilkington – Mariella Nugent, adoptive mother
Joseph Edwards – Clive Nugent, their son
Sakuntala Ramanee – Mags, their servant
Kody Mortimer- Prince
Julie Armstrong- ensemble
Momar Diagne- ensemble
Caiti Ellen – ensemble
Anya Ferdinand – ensemble
Michael Lin – ensemble
Ben Redfern – ensemble
Alexandra Waite-Roberts – ensemble
Leslie Garcia Bowman – onstage swing
Mia Musakambeva – onstage swing

MUSIC
Tom Slade- keyboard, accordion
Katie Mogford – flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxphone
Sarah Crisp-violin
Peter Wilson – cello
Nick Lee-guitar
Gwen Reed – double bass, bass guitar
Kev Waterman- percussion

Expect the unexpected. When we saw the RSC season list, we hadn’t thought about this. We assumed it was a Christmas children-oriented production. We wanted to see Twelfth Night and at this time of year, a Poole-Stratford and back in a day 300 mile round trip in potential bad weather is daunting so we decided to see Twelfth Night on Friday evening and stay over, Having decided that, we might as well see a matinee the next day and this was it. An add on. At 12 o’clock, an hour before the start we gazed at the freezing fog and wondered whether it would be wiser to head home in daylight and skip it. No, it should be OK. We’ll watch it.

Obviously you’ve guessed what’s next. We enjoyed every minute of it and thought it better than the production of Twelfth Night the evening before.

So first, it is NOT a children’s production. It’s the adult dark side of Hans Christian Anderson – we were reminded of A Very Very Very Dark Matter by Martin McDonagh at the Bridge Theatre in 2018 (but it’s not THAT dark). Then which section does it go in here? It’s not a musical, though it has an outstanding song. It’s not dance theatre, although it’s about dancing and has some superb dancing from Nikki Cheung. The music is splendid throughout, but I made special note of the bass and violin. It’s also eclectic: ambient, classical, rock. It’s not a comedy, but the adoptive parents, James Doherty as Bob and Dianne Pilkington as Mariella had us laughing out loud. Is it horror? Joseph Edwards as the creepy taxidermist son is a horror mad axeman. Then some is in verse.

I noted how many of the cast are ‘RSC debut season’ and that’s because the main experience looking at the biographical notes in the programme is in musicals, note two from Chichester in the Daniel Evans era.

What’s it about? Sebastian Torkia has three roles. First he’s the narrator, our audience link. Then he’s the priest who runs a the orphanage, and third he’s the shoemaker who provides the magic red shoes. He starts us off on Andersen and fairy tales, mentioning versions of the original story including the ‘Disney with a talking mouse’ (to my knowledge, Disney never did it). The play builds in the ‘mirror mirror on the wall’ from Snow White and the Seven Vertically Challenged People and references Cinderella with Prince … Prince NOT ‘the prince’ (my parents liked Purple Rain he explains) … and the shoe.

Karen is an orphan, and we start at her mother’s funeral, with everyone commenting, the ensemble are choreographed. We’re somewhere not far from Liverpool by the accents. Karen is adopted by Bob and Mariella Nugent.

Bob is a property developer (he’d get even more laughs in Bournemouth and Poole). Bob keeps starting magic tricks. His new project is a casino. His explanation of how you get planning permission for such a development is all too true.

Bob’s not interested in adopting an orphan, but Mariella, like so many rich women with little to do, wants to become a board member of the orphans charity. Karen is ‘the orphan’ and a distant relative and is mute. Mariella has the classic fairy tale cruel ‘stepmother’ role.

Clive is the son, appearing spattered in blood having killed the neighbour’s cat which he intends to stuff. The ensemble represent stuffed animals.

The Nugents ask Karen to dance and laugh at her. Mariella is offended that her mirror describes Karen as beautiful (rather than ‘fair’). Mariella has rack upon rack of clothes and has a series of lime green and yellow costumes. The mirror doubles as a portrait of a younger Mariella and Bob, dominating the room.

Mariella insists on dressing Karen in black. Mags, the old servant takes her to the shoemaker, with instructions to get plain sensible black shoes.

The shoemaker intervenes, puts Mags into a sleep, and Karen gets the red shoes, which force her to dance.

Nikki Cheung is a fabulous dancer, clearly classically trained (Royal Danish Ballet). This will become evident at the end.

Mariella sets up a dinner to impress the board with her kindness to ‘the orphan.’ Things come to a head at a dinner party where the shoes take over, and Bob dances with Karen to Mariella’s fury. Bob hasn’t danced for years, and is ‘strangely moved.’ Then a whirlwind of forks hit the Nugents, taking out Clive’s eye. In the chaos ensuing, poor old Mags has a heart attack.

In the second part, Bob relizes uncomfortably that he’s attracted to Karen and was rejuvenated by the dance.

Mags has returned from hospital and is bedridden.

Mariella: And really it’s no burden at all to have to look after you day in and day out, while getting nothing in return, you mustn’t give it a second thought.
Mags: Alright …
Mariella: Obviously when the doctor said you were going to require round the clock care, we were … we were a BIT alarmed. … …For you. After all, who was there to do it?

Mariella has a solution, and she sets Karen up as a nurse to look after Mags.

The shoemaker has given Karen a gold invitation to a VIP party in the forest. Mags persuades Karen she can go to the party. Karen gives her the red scarf which we’ve seen before. It was her mother’s. She goes out to the wild forest (This IS Hans Christian Andersen) which is populated by wild creatures. The hawk will be an important figure.

She meets Prince and dances … we’re into the full Cinderella, She has to leave (unexplained). Prince then does the (only) major musical number.

Karen can’t escape the red shoes, that start to force her into twisted and painful postures. She has to escape them, so Clive is asked to cut off her feet which he happily does. She ends up in bed unable to go out … at the end she gets up and is standing then dancing on full points to indicate stumps for a very long time … I said she was classically trained!

The pictures don’t show the darker dancing senes nor the magical branches descending from on high above. It’s a visual feast with music to match. Beautiful set and costumes. If it goes to London, see it. It’s much better than a description would lead you to believe. All credit to Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey for choosing such an unusual (and unclassifiable) production. It is directed & choreographed by Kimberley Rampersand from the Canadian Shakespeare equivalent in Stratford, Ontario. Let’s hope for more collaboration.

OVERALL

Nearly a five. Not quite. A high four. We bought the play text which means we loved it.

****

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
We tend to read Guardian reviews most because there is no paywall, but not for the first time Arifa Akbar is lost in her own agenda somewhere. She can make excellent points in reviews but sometimes she just goes off on a personal tangent as here.

five star
Katy Roberts, The Reviews Hub *****

four star
Dave Fargnoli, The Stage ****
Michael Davies, What’s On Stage ****
Raphael Kohn, All That Dazzles ****
Theatre & Tonic ****

three star
Susannah Clapp, The Observer ***
Domenic Cavendish, The Telegraph ***
Graham Wyles, Stage Talk ***
Alison, Weekend Notes ***

two star
Arifa Akbar, The Guardian **

LINKS ON THIS BLOG

SEBASTIAN TORKIA
Rock Follies, Chichester 2023
Travels With My Aunt, Chichester 2016

KODY MORTIMER
Sunset Boulevard, Savoy Theatre 2023
Assassins, Chichester 2023

MICHAEL LIN
Sunset Boulevard, Savoy Theatre 2023

SAKUNTALA RAMANEE
The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC 2018
Romeo & Juliet, RSC 2018