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Toil and trouble . . . and fun
Feeling a touch light headed: Oliver Evans and Naomi Lee Schulke and Roy and Beth Three
Witches B2
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
WITCHES get such a bad press but Hagwitch, the central character
(Katherine Toy) in the Three Witches, billed as comic gothic for all the
family, is pretty, sensible, mischievous and funny, an excellent
musician plus warm and kind to the young brother and sister Beth and Roy
who wander into her castle one dark night. Four
excellent, energetic and versatile actors tackle all the roles in this
Hoopla Theatre production so Naomi Lee Schulke and Oliver Evans play
Beth and Roy and witches Firestone and Puckle in a production that also
includes music, songs and brilliant projection work. There’s also puppetry in the
form of a Cockney Crow (the coffin-chaser) whose comic observations add
immensely to the action. This re-imagining of Macbeth
is set in the old castle; derelict and unloved for the nearly1,000 years
that Hagwitch has been the Castle-Keeper, and destined by the Scottish
Laird (Simon Spencer-Hyde) to be demolished next day if human tenants
can manage to stay the night; against the run of play and showing
sufficient courage to thwart two curses. Beth and Roy are told ‘Don’t
try on the crown and don’t sit on the throne’ – but, naturally they do
and the Macbeth curses – that one will be murdered and the other go mad
– edge towards fruition. There are as many plot twists
as a little dog’s hind leg but the one I absolutely adored was the
delicious concept that Lady Macbeth could have been saved from her
madness if she’d simply said sorry.
The fight scene between the
children and the ‘ghost’ was wonderful – though I kept worrying that
they’d knock the talking statue off the podium rather than suffer
injury… In short, the little people in
the audience – average age about eight - were very obviously enthralled,
tickled, scared and comforted in turn. This production scores on so many
levels but, most particularly, as a starter pack into art appreciation
is a must-see. There’s a smattering of
Shakespeare, all of the actors are good multi-instrumentalists on
guitar, trumpet, saxophone, piano, accordion and double bass, the use of
projections particularly those of the two other witches onto Hagwitch’s
wonderful coat. I really enjoyed this
production and as we edge towards Halloween it has even more relevance.
Take your little ones but expect to have a great time yourself – because
you will. Written by Philip Monks and directed by Jenny Stephens the
witches cast their spell to 12-10-13 Jane Howard
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