Sugar-induced mayhem is unleashed on the Globe stage with Simon Armitage’s hyper adaptation of the Grimm brothers’ classic folktale. This jolly family show is full of giddy highs but despite the background of war, it misses the grisly bite of the original.
Armitage’s script has a lyrical swiftness to it, the rhyming verse crisp as it is passed between the actors, who delight in the sounds of synonyms as the family plod, pace and patter their way through the trees to where the siblings’ parents turn back alone. Jenni Maitland’s usher guides the story, an energetic force on the edge of the action, munching on a sandwich as quick-witted Hansel (Ned Costello) and Gretel (Yasemin Özdemir) drop their trail of crumbs. Echoing the scarcity in the village they’re forced to leave, Rae Smith’s design is beautifully makeshift, the woods and its secrets emerging with mud-slathered tents, the same material that makes up the fluttering birds and giant moths we meet along the way.
Patrick Pearson’s simple melodies punctuate the action, most meaningfully with the tender song Lamplight. Bolstered by Yelfris Valdés’ trumpet solo, the children string fairy lights for their camp, dreaming of being back home and fighting over who gets the top bunk. The songs that bookend the play hold back the plot rather than push it forward, but the action hits a dizzying high with the hip-shaking Sugar Rush as Beverly Rudd’s grimacing gangster Witch rockets on to the stage, candy cane walking stick discarded and knees akimbo. The show shines at these points when the hinges are loosest. Marc Zayat and Mason Clarke-Whale bring wonderfully wild energy in the ensemble, making the kids in the audience cackle.
The setting isn’t specified, but money is scarce and tactics to get it are cutthroat; the witch as a child-trafficker rather than child-eater shifts the story towards the plight of refugees. Though Nick Bagnall’s tone-switching production eases us into the story gently, it then rushes us through, with not enough time for the darker undercurrents, particularly the background of war and displacement, to settle. This leaves the whole feverish affair feeling a little unmoored. But at just an hour and with an early show time, this is a bright, silly production, with buckets of sweet treats for kids to enjoy.
