It could have been any close-knit, happy family.
The children, Hansel and Gretel, squabbled and teased each other with gusto – but like their parents, they were melded together by unconditional love. No way would these parents Grimm-ly abandon their children to die in the woods. But a witch nearing the end of her life-span would. She needs a man to vow he loves her. He's married? Has kids? So what?
Yet again Alan McHugh has taken a familiar cautionary tale and worked it into an absorbing, rollercoaster drama thick with the stuff of childhood (and indeed adult) nightmares.
Jennifer Harraghy's Vanya, scarily shape-shifting from a spying magpie into a smooth-tongued interloper, relentlessly steals every bit of joy from this family. The wife "disappears". Vanya then vamps the distracted husband while the grief-stricken children look on in alarm.
By the time she's wangled them into the hostile forest, Hansel (David Carlyle) and Gretel (Gemma McElhinney) are convinced their father loves her more than them. And we're wondering the same.
Over and over, it seems this witch will outsmart quick-thinking Gretel and a Hansel who is selfless and courageous once he stops being arrogant. But even in the pitch-dark forest or the witch's macabre kitchen – when the convincing sense of danger has the young audience scared to breathe – the power of a parent's protective love still reaches out to defy evil. And it is so glorious, so ultimately reassuring, that waves of spontaneous applause erupted unbidden.
Nothing in this inventively staged and persuasively acted music- theatre piece dumbs down the awfulness of feeling unloved and unwanted. Which means that when everyone is safe and reunited, the happy ending is no cliché, but a loving hug that embraces us all.
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