Fairy tale misfits abound in this fresh adaptation, with original music, where Tim Burton meets Shrek meets “Once Upon a Time”! A fun, family adventure to celebrate the festive season.
Pricked by a spindle on her 16th birthday, Sleeping Beauty falls into a deep, deep sleep under the watchful eye of the mischievous, flatulent Fairy Goody – whose spell backfired and left her with wonky wings. Obliged to play matchmaker for the slumbering princess, Goody puts prospective princes through their paces in search of the one who will awaken her mistress with a kiss. Read more …
But the prospect of happy-ever-after is not so straightforward in this gleefully gruesome take on the traditional tale. Perilous secrets will be revealed and ogres lurk within the kingdom, as Beauty uses all her wits to get her family home safe.
Wonderfully grotesque, rather scary, funny-peculiar.
Dominic Hill has got just the right level of scary in this dark and lush production.
An impressively stylish and wonderfully engaging piece of seasonal theatre.
All told the show feels a little disjointed, with characters from the first half disappearing to be replaced by a whole new set of protagonists. But for sheer energy visual imagination HIll's production is hard to beat.
This is psychologically fascinating, and director Dominic Hill is fully committed – perhaps too committed – to the bleakness of Norris's vision.
So skewed, so weird, and so stylishly out of kilter that it seems designed for teenagers who would snarl at the very idea of traditional panto.
Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow from Saturday December 1, 2012, until Sunday January 6, 2013. More info: www.citz.co.uk
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