Part chocolate factory, part Psycho house of horror, the witch’s hideaway in the Royal Opera’s Hansel and Gretel oozes grisly allure. The front steps may be made of ganache but a window drips with blood. Humperdinck’s fairytale opera is thought of as a children’s favourite, a first step into opera. The ROH revival of this 2018 staging, by director-designer Antony McDonald, runs throughout the school holidays. In the tradition of European fairy stories, the underlying themes are dark: poverty, drunkenness, child abuse. Humperdinck’s 1893 version – to a libretto by his sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers – softens terror with the addition of angels, kindly Sandman and obliging Dew Fairy, creating a gentler, God-loving romance.
These polarities cause a dilemma for any director. Some crank up the ghoulish and sinister elements – more fun for grownups – only to find the work topples under the weight of expectation. McDonald has remained faithful to the spirit of the original, with painterly designs straight out of a pop-up book. Inside a remote wooden shack, Hansel and Gretel (Anna Stéphany and Anna Devin) argue with their desperate mother (Susan Bickley), whose worst punishment is to make them pick strawberries. In the forest, the lost children encounter familiar Disney characters and cuddly-furry beasts. The Witch (Rosie Aldridge), who doesn’t appear until Act 3, meets her end in a vat of chocolate instead of a roaring furnace.
