Theatre / ben glasstone
Review: Red Riding Hood, Brewery Theatre
Norwich Puppet Theatre announce their intentions right at the start of this sparse, atmospheric Red Riding Hood. A quartet of eerily lifelike wooden wolf puppets creep out of the darkness and sniffle the front row of the audience curiously, to the sounds of sharply intaken breath.
Their retelling of the oh-so-familiar tale is simple, but generous with the atmosphere – and unafraid to broach, albeit in a four-year-old-friendly way, the fear and menace lurking just beneath the surface in one of our best-loved folk tales.
Beautifully rendered in wooden masks (just on the right eerie side of lifelike) and sinuous wood and textile bodies, the wolves that lurk in the woods that Red Riding Hood must cross are the most captivating part of the show.
When the time comes for the principal wolf to hatch his evil plan, he’s enacted beautifully by actor/puppeteer Shane Connolly as a gruff but slyly ingratiating protector-cum-predator, circling watchfully around Red Riding Hood, interspersing his friendly chatter with the odd sniff and muffled growl of hunger.
Later, when he’s ensconced in Grandma’s bed and bedclothes, a façade goes up for the latter’s house, allowing for some powerful shadow puppetry between wolf and visitor.
The other characters don’t quite have the wolf’s magnetism, and won’t stay in the mind quite as long. Red Riding Hood herself, manipulated and voiced by Clare Rebekah Pointing, exudes a cheerful, shy innocence but not quite enough character to invest life and warmth into the beautiful, but slightly austere wooden puppet.
Elsewhere two new protagonists, a pair of gossiping washerwomen, add some nicely contrasting humour but arguably lessen the backwoods tension and atmosphere.
What does add to the latter, however, is Ben Glasstone’s folk/classical-tinged score – when not adding to the mysterious, dimly-lit woodland textures it’s evoking the skittering flight of swallows (some beautiful papercut puppets here) or, via a frantic banjo and fiddle waltz, the washerwomen’s whispered confidences.
Peter O’Rourke’s spartan, intriguingly malleable wooden set keeps younger audiences guessing – at each scene change a new world is built, producing urgent whispered speculations around the audience.
The pace and tension may drop at moments but this is, overall, an atmospheric rendering of a beloved tale, with a strongly folksy, backwoods atmosphere.
Red Riding Hood continues at the Brewery Theatre until Sunday, February 22. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/red_riding_hood
Pic: Andy Sapey
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