RUMPLESTILTSKIN till 26 April

Coventry

RUMPLESTILTSKIN: Adaptation by Matthew Pegg
Belgrade: Tkts 024 7655 3055
Runs: 2h 15m, one interval, till Saturday 26 April
Review: Rod Dungate, 17 April 2003

Streetwise adaptation, full of whacky inventionParents may find it distressing that their dearly beloved off-spring frequently take a ghoulish delight in horror stories. Fortunately this doesn't bother Matthew Pegg who relishes it in his rompish adaptation of Rumplestiltskin. The effect is to give the story a streetwise robustness completely at one with modern times.

In this version, young Jemima travels with her father (the Miller) to Freedonia to make their home in an old mill they've been left. Freedonia appears to be a police state and Jemima, who it is believed can spin straw into gold, is tricked by a wicked King and side-kick Prime Minister, Golgerman, into doing just that. Naturally she has to enlist the help of a goblin, Rumplestiltskin. All else follows.

There is a rich vein of whacky invention in Pegg's script, a vein which is fully mined by Richard J Fletcher as Rumplestiltskin. Taking away Jemima's baby is scary, but for the most part, Fletcher's badness is naughty rather than evil. If one of the young people in the audience described him as 'really bad', they'd be getting both qualities spot on. He's, well, wicked I suppose. His enormous energy and commitment drives the show along.

There is a tendency, particularly in the first half, in writing, production and playing, for narrative and this character to lose definition from time to time. It's as if there isn't enough confidence in the script: a pity, but only a small quibble in the overall scheme of things.

Zoe Bywater's Jemima is a tough upholder of good sense as well as morality. And Michael Moylan and Isabel Ford are glorious as a pair of worker goblins.

Miltos Yerolemou, who directs, keeps the pace up using all devices with theatrical glee and integrates some intriguing an enormously effective video (Arnim Friess).

Rumplestiltskin: Richard J Fletcher
Jemima: Zoe Bywater
Victor: Jud Charlton
Goblin Queen: Gail Sixsmith
The Miller: Dan Copeland
Golgerman/ Goblin: Michael Moylan
Guard/ Goblin: Isabel Ford

Director: Miltos Yerolemou
Design: Sherri Hazzard
Lighting: Wayne Dowdeswell
Sound: Steve Wilson
Composer, Musical Advisor: Glen Richardson
Tap Dancing Choreographer: Jill Freeman
Movement Collaborator: Gail Sixsmith
Animation: Arnim Friess

2003-04-18 10:44:15