BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. To 10 January.

Newcastle-under-Lyme

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
by Chris Monks Music by Chris Monks

New Vic Theatre To 10 January 2004
Mon-Sat 10am (schools' shows) 2pm and 7.30pm various dates. No performances 25 December, 1 January
Runs 2hr One interval

TICKETS: 01782 717962
tickets@newvictheatre.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 November

French elegance, bluegrass music and human nature successfully combine.
Chris Monks' production opens by reporting how this story's known in various forms world-wide. He goes on to mix elegant ancien regime costume, with Moby Dick whaling-boats (the Dolphin indeed), where Beauty's brothers go to earn a crust once father's ruined, but where they end up turfed out.

And some very up-to-date technology, whirling images of Paul McCleary's Merchant and his daughter Beauty through the air - or showing them tramp into Beast's imposing underground domain.

There's a comparable mix of styles, with near pantomime comedy as two women see off Beauty's drunken brothers while their supposed protector's still boastfully preparing to fight. And nerve-edge drama as, first on screen then on stage, the brother's seek to kill Beast - love speaks its name just in time (this climax could be more sharply pointed).

Then there's the serious thematic stuff, which fits well, never becoming heavy-handed as Beauty's antipathy, which she says isn't based on the creature's appeareance - he can't help that - but on his denying her freedom, gradually transmutes to sympathy, pity and deeper appreciation.

After Clive Llewellyn's careful mix of anger and care, it's sad he's denied the transformation back to human form, Robert Curbishley taking over (unfortunate the one actor who's Black can play Beast but is denied handsome prince status; Llewellyn has to sneak back on for the final dance).

Monks' surprisingly tactful Bluegrass score underlines the US setting - though there's a Scottish-sounding Bailiff, subjected to some quayside comic humiliation.

The mix zips along merrily, with Lindsay Allen's generous, but determined, Beauty the only one not blaming dad for their poverty - he even blames himself. Yet his wealth's subject to fashion; just as a ship laden with China tea is saved, the bottom falls from the market as people turn to the beverage's Indian version.

He is to blame for breaking his word about not abusing Beast's hospitality, however innocently, when he plucks an unbidden rose. Interestingly, right at the end the re-transformed Beast/Prince lets on he was bestialised for the same crime, and for arrogantly thinking he had done nothing wrong (one step worse than the Merchant).

Interestingly, Monks allows one sister, Zelda, to show a moral step forward as she finally stops bothering about herself enough to ask after Beast.

Lis Evans provides a fine in-the-round setting, a table transforming to a bed ("such accommodating furniture," the Merchant aptly remarks), a huge treasure-chest losing its treasure when Beauty leaves, and father appearing to fly back from Beast's home and fall to earth amid the family washing.

With Daniella Beattie's whirls of light, and a complex tracery of branches on the forest floor, plus Ray Johnson's video sequences, this is a pleasant Christmas show that might well loosen up a bit in the comic sections as the run progresses. Indulgent comic excess is the enemy of enjoyment, but some moments are still - in the opening days - finding their feet as more than technical routines. They'll no doubt find them soon enough.

Once again the New Vic's come up with a friendly, approachable Christmas show with a dramatic focus and good seasonal spirits.

Beauty: Lindsay Allen
Aisha: Angela Bain
Prince: Robert Curbishley
Abel: Neil Gore
Zelda: Sarah Harvey
Beast: Clive Llewellyn
Merchant: Paul McCleary
Zachary: William Wolfe Hogan

Children: Sallie Barlow, Sophie Elsby, George Hodson, Megan Shaw or Hannah Morris, Alicja Mrozicka, Antony Mrozicka, Helen Staff

Director: Chris Monks
Designer: Lis Evans
Lighting: Daniella Beattie
Sound: James Earls-Davis
Musical Director: Akintayo Akinbode
Choreographer: Beverley Edmunds
Fight director: Kate Waters
Camera/TV Editing: Ray Johnson

2003-11-24 17:01:12