FORTY HARES AND A PRINCESS. To 20 December.

London

FORTY HARES AND A PRINCESS

Wonderful Beast theatre company at Southwark Playhouse To 20 December 2003-12-16 Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 3pm no performance 19 December
Runs 1hr 40min One interval

TICKETS: 020 7620 3494
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 December

A richness of humanity, wonder and theatrical narrative.Have you heard the one about ? Probably not in these cases, though the first of this quintet of folk-based stories has similarities with Cinderella. Except, in this Japanese tale there's no godmother and no ball rather, a lucky charm and a touring theatre performance, where despised Benizara attracts a noble who searches her out at home.

Wonderful Beast have chosen wisely and perform well. Narrative whirls us forward, theatrical ingenuity always helping, never clogging, the action. There's a range of styles: Turkey's Just say Hic is a simple story in which a dimwitted servant is tripped up by language and an inability to remember anything but the last words said to him. There's comedy in the inappropriate situations he finds himself in till all turns out well.

Yet Japan's Dream Reader is a poetic, mystic piece involving loss and madness. Drawn from Noh Theatre rather than folk-tales, it's the least apt for the minimum age of 7 the show's announced for (there's no maximum age. These stories appeal at several levels of human experience and understanding).

The production's theatrical economy and intensity are apt for depicting lives where uncontrollable forces are managed and right restored by a mix of ingenuity, luck and the intervention of magical powers. Merely described, they become simplistic moral propaganda: be good to people and they'll help you, in the case of Italy's Prezzemolina. Yet Claude Harz's dramatisation of this story, and the production's inventive lightness of touch, make it a rich experience.

Live sounds as Prezzemolina oils a door suggests the wood experiences a human-like relief from aches later, the grateful portal refuses to trap the heroine who'd eased it. Such quick, humour-inflected details, deftly acted by the purposeful ensemble, express story magic through theatrical ingenuity.

The final tale (used as the show's title) is a folk satire on the unreliable word of the powerful, bringing near-revolutionary revenge as a shepherd turns their power against them, eventually using an ancient version of tabloid journalism. Earthily humorous, it shows how the mighty fall, with the inventive production and perfect ensemble playing the company's shown flawlessly throughout.

Lord, Hassan, Meme, Chief Priest, King: Paul Dinnen
Old Woman/Fisherman/Nun/Dream-Reader/Princess: Ann Firbank
Benizara/Prezzemolina/Temple Servant/Narrator/Courtier: Morven Macbeth
Kakezara/Prezzemolina's Mother/Morgan Le Fay/Mother/Queen: Montserrat Roig de Poig
Stepmother/Nun/Cobbler/Boy/Shepherd: Matthew Prendergast

Directors: Alys Kihl, Sue Nash
Designer: Ruth Paton
Lighting: Colin Grenfell,Francesca Finney
Design assistant: Claire Bennett

2003-12-17 06:52:10