Grimm Tales

Successfully blending the dark, the funny and the colourful, Congleton Amateur Youth Theatre’s Grimm Tales proved an unmissable voyage into the world of fairy tales.

The group’s performance of Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation of the Brothers Grimm was billed as an atmospheric take on five classic tales combining movement mime and the spoken word, and it successfully delivered a treat for onlookers young and old as the cast explored the darkest depths of childhood fears.

The tone was set right from the start as the lights went out, with solitary music box notes creating an immediate aura of uneasiness, which rippled through the audience as an ancient door creaked open.

The eerie music continued to echo around the Daneside Theatre as two children explored the beautifully-designed set, where they discovered a dusty book of fairy tales and embarked on a journey of their imagination through the tales of Hansel and Gretel, The Golden Goose, Asputell, Iron Han’s and The Lady and the Lion.

This scene would prove to be an effective transition between each of the five stories, with the two children remaining at the corner of the stage turning the pages as the rest of the cast acted out the physical manifestation of what they were imagining.

The five tales showcased a skilfully interwoven mix of darkness, pitch black, and slapstick comedy, and the happy ending.

Highlights included a downright hilarious scene in the Golden Goose, where seven unsuspecting people became mysteriously stuck to Dummling’s  goose and stumbled into, over and under each other as they were pulled around the stage, much to the audience’s amusement.
Hansel and Gretel proved to be the darkest of the lot, as a family were torn apart by desperate hunger and the children were left abandoned in the foreboding forest skilfully created by the chorus.

The performance was rounded off by The Lady and the Lion, which saw a princess finally reunited with her love after seven years of searching, a fitting finale.  Under the direction of Jennifer Mathews and Dee Melia, the enthusiastic and talented youngsters all acted out their parts with gusto and the excellent sound and lighting continued to provide a magical atmosphere throughout, delivering a true fairytale experience for the audience

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