I have never seen an adaptation of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in which the pivotal kiss waking the Princess after a century of slumber was executed with such a lack of drama and conviction. This lack was symptomatic of the whole show; coherent emotional interpretation of the Brothers Grimm story was near to non-existent, with line delivery either stilted and underpowered or rushed and hammy. The production suffered from a glut of ideas: the lovely puppets were lost among a mish-mash of theatrical styles, and the cast’s unnecessary skittering about the stage was a real distraction. Fundamentally, the problem was the bad acting, for which even their act of sweetly sitting children from the audience on the stage itself couldn’t make amends.
theSpaces on North Bridge, 5 – 27 Aug (not 14, 21), 4.10pm (4.55pm), £5.50 – £7.50 (£24.00 F), fpp 298.
tw rating 1/5
[dp]
Sections: by Dora Petherbridge - ED2011 Theatre Reviews - tw rating 1/5 | Tags: Another Soup Productions, Space Venues
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