REVIEW: HANSEL AND GRETEL- THEATRE ROYAL, GLASGOW

Christopher Hampson's first production for Scottish Ballet employs a modern retelling of the sinister and cannibalistic Grimms tale. This version of Hansel and Gretel takes place in an unnamed town in the 1950s where children have strangely been disappearing and only the central siblings’ remain.

Gary Harris' Disney-esque set design, complete with intentionally naive and child-like illustrations is captivating and so are the lives depicted within it. Hansel (Constant Vigier) and Gretel (Sophie Martin)’s fractious but ultimately devoted relationship is well-done and Hampson has gone to great lengths to make them seem like real children by incorporating oversized furniture and ensuring that never stand up next to their parents. However, his efforts were undermined when they dance with real children at the end. There’s a vulnerability to Martin’s performance which is just right for Gretel who has given herself the role of looking after her less domineering brother. Bethany Kingsley-Garner’s appearance as the delicate Dew Drop Fairy in Act Two, complete with sparkly tutu-clad Fairy attendants, is entertaining as well as visually stunning.

The most memorable performance, however, is Eve Mutso's enchanting transformation from school teacher to beguiling ballerina to blood-thirsty horror. She’s comical as well as haunting as she entices Hansel and Gretel to sleep and later chases the mischievous pair around her food laden table. Musto's movements are macabre, verging on ugly but that's just right for her character's decline.

There is an irony and innocence surrounding the production from the set to the costumes and plot itself. Caught up in the child-like wonderment of an all-you-can-eat buffet of your dreams, Hansel and Gretel fail to notice that the witch’s house has bars on the windows in the same way that they fail to recognise the witch herself as their former school teacher.  In some respects, Hampson sugar-coats the creepier psychological aspects of the original tale with the inclusion of an array of waiters, chefs and rag dolls. However, Daniel Davidson’s villainous Sandman (his costume was inspired by Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow) is perhaps even more disturbing than the pantomime-scary witch.


Humperdinck’s melodic score is combined with other music, including a section from his opera, Sleeping Beauty. The absence of an evil step-mother adds another unique  element to Hampson's production. Instead, we are presented with flawed but ultimately endearing parents (Luciana Ravizzi and Christopher Harrison) who squabble over cigarettes and alcohol in the same way that their children later argue over a teddy-bear.

Hampson’s narrative does not offer much opportunity for large-scale ensemble pieces, meaning that most of the production revolves around the hero and heroine. It’s a wonder that Scottish Ballet is the first company to produce a full-length ballet of this beautifully twisted fairy tale.

FILM REVIEW: SAVING MR BANKS

Mary Poppins, one of Walt Disney’s own personal achievements will turn 50 next year.  To celebrate, Disney Studios released a biopic about the making of the film. It’s witty and enjoyable despite being a little self-congratulatory at times.

Saving Mr Banks follows Walt Disney’s (Tom Hanks) relentless quest to persuade PL Travers (Emma Thompson) to secure him the film rights to her closely guarded children’s book, Mary Poppins. Travers halfheartedly accepts Disney’s proposal when her agent manages to convince her on the grounds that she is running out of money. Prim and uptight, Travers is not willing to let Disney sugar-coat her creation. “Mary Poppins does not sing”, she warns him, “I won’t have her turned into one of your silly cartoons.” Inevitably, the joke is on her as the film winds up being one of Disney’s most popular family favourites-with singing.

Pamela Travers would have been an interesting subject for a film even if she hadn’t penned Mary Poppins. The Australian-born novelist was the daughter of an alcoholic and unsuccessful bank manager (Collin Farrell). Unable to cope, her mother attempted suicide while Travers was still a child. The biopic flashes back to Travers’ girlhood in Australia which should have worked in theory but this is where the film loses focus, detracting from the scenes between Hanks and Thompson. Not only that, there is a suggestion that Mary Poppins is simply a thinly veiled fictionalised account of Travers' own childhood.

The majority of the action takes place in 1961 during the fortnight that Travers spent with Disney as he attempted to adapt her film for the big screen. In these scenes, the intricacy of Travers own life is ignored, instead presenting her as a lonely spinster. This was not the case in real life- although she never married, Travers did in fact have romantic relationships with both men and women. However, the rest of the film seems to be true to life- a real voice recording of Disney and Travers played at the end credits is close to  the way Thompson and Hanks depict the relationship on screen.

Collin Farrell as PL Travers father and Annie Buckley as Ginty/young PL Travers.

The humour is well done. Upon arrival in America, her driver Ralph claims that the sun has come out just to say hello to her. “Don’t be preposterous,” is her reply. “Poor AA Milne”, Travers sighs when her California hotel room is full of Winnie the Pooh toys. She arrives at Disney’s studio with what appears to be an endless list of requests and a stubbornness to not back down on any of them. “Oh no, no, no, goodness me, no, no, no”, she exclaims when she sees the initial sketch of Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane. She doesn’t want the colour red in the film, “I’ve just gone off the colour”, she states, “I’m anti-red.”

The decision to cast Emma Thompson as Travers is uncanny as new generations will recognise her as Nanny McPhee. Saving Mr Banks reveals an artist’s struggle to preserve her work. The film climaxes on the battle between art and entertainment, ultimately revealing that they can co-exist.

Previously published here