BEAUTY AND THE BEAST To 16 January.
Oxford.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
by Daniel Bye.
Creation Theatre Company at the Mirror-Tent, BMW Plant. To 16 January 2010.
Runs 2hr 30min One interval.
TICKETS: 01865 766266.
www.creationtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 5 December.
Ambitious choice pays off.
There’s no lack of parking-space at Creation Theatre’s Mirror-Tent, a welcomingly illuminated oasis in the vast car-park fronting BMW’s Mini works, by Oxford’s east Ring Road.
Each year the company summons up narrative and physical theatre magic here from traditional tales. This year, it’s a story that found eventual form through a number of aristocratic 18th-century French ladies.
Daniel Bye’s new version of Beauty has limitations but it’s an ambitious, invigorating script, avoiding a simple nasty/nice opposite among the three sisters. Holly and Bryony are merely fish out of wa
ter when exiled in the country.
Bella has a temper too, but also a lively mind, with a technical bent. Always positive, even when fearful or frustrated, she’s uneasy with her passive elegance at the Beast’s place, describing herself as a cream-cake or meringue in her dresses as Laura Sanchez shows Bella’s intelligence and initiative in a keen, sympathetic portrayal.
Structurally, the story’s problematic on stage because the first major encounter isn’t between Beast and Beauty, but her father. Treating this relatively quickly as a flashback, also Bye includes a first, unreliable account of the father’s rose-gathering, adding tension – as does a rose that turns different colours depending who handles it.
No rose will grow near Beast, who’s been in the forest a century, his servants masked as a sign of invisibility. The Beastly costume – black, its head held at arms length by an extended neck - is peering and intrusive, while aptly suggesting a separation between mind and body.
Along with a later section's stasis in relationships and activity, the script’s main weakness is Beast’s heavy-handed hints that all they need is perfect love; if only she’ll dance with him everything will be “fine” - a weak word, like a bestial weather-forecast.
But the magic awaydays to various cities, a temporary stage in the relationship as such adventures must be, links to the gap in Bella’s life, her missing brother. Beast searches for him, finally bringing happiness all round in a production by Sarah Punshon which captures the darkness, occasional humour and optimism in this recounting of the old French ladies’ story.
Beast/Jack: John Dorney.
Tom/Musician: Jack Merivale.
Dad/Giuseppe: Paul Mundell.
Bryony/Katrina: Sarah Price.
Holly/Magda: Susie Riddell.
Bella: Laura Sanchez.
Director: Sarah Punshon.
Designer: Rachael Canning.
Lighting: Ian Saunders.
Sound: Matt Eaton.
Composer: Tom Attwood.
Additional Music/Music Director: Jack Merivale.
Movement: Daniel Bye.
Assistant designer: Laura Martin.
2009-12-10 13:22:01