Review: Rapunzel, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘A tale told with charm, imagination and fun’

Tom Brennan’s Rapunzel: A Hairy Tale makes an unexpectedly inventive production out of the Tobacco Factory’s intimate in-the-round stage. With a cast of five, led by Anna Marks Pryce as Rapunzel, Brennan conjures a world that feels broad and vertiginous: part forest, part fantasy tower, part palace.

This is billed as a family production and is unusually successful in that regard, achieving not a polite, bifurcated laughter that splits adults from children, but a democratic applause – a shared delight that ripples through the room. The inventive use of the venue’s structural quirks, from the sightlines to the supporting pillars, makes the slapstick surprisingly sophisticated, flaunting Brennan’s directorial prowess.

Dominating the evening’s jests is Phil King’s camp royal hairdresser, Teasy Weazy, the hapless instrument of Zweyla Mitchell Dos Santos’ slyly disguised Queen Donatella; both are invested in Rapunzel’s rescue-turned-plot. Meanwhile, Rapunzel’s eager yet frequently outmatched rescuer, Benito (Adam Mirsky), provides a sharp and lively counterweight. Together, they carry a good portion of the production’s charm.

Mirsky is irresistibly engaging as Benito, the bespectacled, nerdy hero whose earnestness captures the audience. His warm and shockingly resonant vocals lend the character a subtle authority that offsets his frequent misfortune. His performance is honed with real care, sincere without sentimentality and funny without caricature – a tough balance when playing to such a diverse crowd.

Tom Crosley-Thorne’s original score, played live by the cast, gives the production a charming musical spine that is integrated deftly into the storytelling. With a company this small, doubling is inevitable, yet here it becomes a virtue – populating the world with a shifting chorus that animates and dissolves as the narrative demands.

Anna Marks Pryce and Mischa Jardine’s misunderstood kidnapper Serafina steer the story with vocals that hover between the haunting and the insistent. Yearning, cunning and often at crossed-purposes, the pair complement each other well.

Not every part of the show is so sure-footed. Occasional attempts at topicality, most notably an abrupt Elon Musk reference dropped into a song about wealth, land with a hollow thud. In a show already tickling the adults, this weak attempt at political commentary compromises the otherwise coherent world-building of the musical.

While Dos Santos’s Donatella sometimes feels a little undercharged, she compensates with a series of hilariously anarchic sequences in which she plays all of Benito’s brothers – Stabbio, Javvio and so on – each distinguished by a beard more ridiculous than the last. It lands as one of the productions funniest stretches and redeems her Musk-littered money meander.

The staging, minimal yet nimble, is where Brennan is most confident. Rapunzel’s hair becomes a compelling theatrical device: a rope, a weapon or a blanket, all cleverly woven into the physicality of the performance. It avoids gimmickry and maintains a youthful humour without undermining the narrative, speaking to the production’s behind-the-scenes craftmanship.

The thematic terrain is familiar, accessible, and unmistakably Disney-infected, with courage, selfhood and friendship, but Sharon Clark’s writing avoids excessive sugar. Rather, she skillfully steers the show in a brisk and lightly sincere direction, never lingering on any single theme long enough to feel laboured.

Minor qualms aside, Rapunzel: A Hairy Tale proves a lively delivery, crafted with noticeably more care than many seasonal offerings twice its scale. Brennan commands the intimate venue with a masterful and imaginative sleight of hand, and the multi-talented ensemble tell their tale with charm, clarity and an infectious sense of fun.

Rapunzel: A Hairy Tale (age recommendation 7+) is at Tobacco Factory Theatres on November 27-January 17; times vary. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.

All photos: Camilla Adams

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