The Grimm Cinderella

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Play at Lyric Hammersmith is no ordinary panto

Cinderella, retold by Melly Still and Ben Power at the Hammersmith Lyric this Christmas, is no traditional pantomime.

 

Based on the Brothers Grimm's fairtales, with a number of grim scenes in which the ugly sisters have gtheir eyes pecked out and hack at their toes and heels to fit into Cinder's slippers, the children's play is dark, stark and beautifully designed.

 

The stage is filled with silver birch trees and hazel sticks are used for props. Small white snow pigeons flutter around Cinderella's family, and the prince and his mother.

 

Although the performance relies on repetition, story-telling and narrative flashbacks, the children in the audience on my visit were silent throughout the first half of the play, transfixed by the actoin on stage.

 

The interval brings some light relief. The audience are invited to join in the ball and dance to Norwegian musician Terje Isungset's bizarre music. This is played on instruments ranging from stones gathered on a mountain in Southern Norway, a slate, a mouth harp made from Second World War German aircraft, an old bicycle and an ice horn.

 

Elizabeth Chan shows a mixture of vulnerability, sadness, joy and hope in her performance as Cinderalla. She appears tiny next to the stately Grainne Byrne, who plays both the wicked stepmother and the Queen.

 

The two 'ugly sisters', played by Kelly Williams and Katherine Manners, also tower over Cinderella, and bully her in a childish, spiteful way which degenerates into real cruelty by the end of the play. 

 

Daniel Weyman is wonderful as the foppish Prince, who morphs between an Austin Powers style playboy and a romantic hero.

 

With a few magic Lyric touches, this is a beautifully realised traditional version of Cinderella. Although it may upset some sensitive children, many of those in the audience seemed to enjoy the more violent scenes.

 

December 24, 2008