British Theatre Guide

Rapunzel and the Tower of Doom
Theatre of Widdershins
Scottish Storytelling Centre, The Netherbow
****

The classic tale of Rapunzel is retold by Andy Lawrence of Theatre of Widdershins with a mix of storytelling, music, puppetry, acting and use of masks. The story has a fruit and vegetable theme. There is quite a bit of word play around the names of vegetables … including a collie dog in a flower, and a chilly chilli. There is a lot of interaction with the audience and a comic line at the end which made most grown-ups in the audience laugh.

Andy tells the story with fiery passion and vigour. His use of the stage and props was interesting. There were boxes that flipped open to create different scenes in surprising ways. The costumes were basically masks that depicted different noses hair and hats. Andy was very good at doing the different characters and it was very easy to tell which character was speaking. You didn't even need to see the puppets moving. There was even a bit of singing, although the show was mostly puppetry and acting.

On a slightly negative point, some of the words (liquidise, for instance), may not have been suitable for 4-year olds, but nevertheless, there was enough to entertain the younger members of the audience and enough to entertain the older members as well.

Katya Conrad (aged 10)