Into The Woods

Into the Woods is a complex and musically sophisticated show, which allows its performers the opportunity to explore its dark comedy. Cleverly crafted the show follows the stories of a Baker and his wife who wish to have a child but have been cursed by a witch (played by Alicia Frances Evans), Cinderella who wishes to attend the King’s festival, and Jack who wishes his cow would give milk. On their journey into the woods the characters are faced with the consequences of their wishes and their family relationships are challenged.

The setting for this production was modern using scaffold and platforms to create a multi level performance space. The larger properties included the creation of a beanstalk using umbrellas and puppetry for the cow, milky white (manipulated and performed by Kalia King).

Lighting was simple and effective giving direction to the audience at times and highlighting when the giant had killed by consuming the space with crimson lighting.

Costumes and wigs were good and there was a mix of both traditional and modern. I did find that the mask worn by the witch at the start of the production did constrict her vocal performance but it did aid the overall effect of her transformation during the production. The addition of prosthetic noses applied to the three pigs and the wolf came across well and had been well applied.

Sound played a vital role in this production and whilst the backing track and sound effects were excellent, the fast pace of this show meant that microphone cues were missed and microphones sometimes unbalanced or distorted.

It was an interesting decision to split the role of the narrator (played by George Coales) and the Mysterious Man (played by Matty Romasiuk) by director and choreographer Benjamin Connor something that I had not seen before. This however did work well when the Baker (played by Joe Childs), the narrator and the mysterious man came together in one of their final songs, which made me think of the relationships between fathers and their sons which highlighted well one of the key themes of the show.

Daisy Wyatt as Cinderella was well cast and I particularly enjoyed her performance, which was well controlled and stayed within the realms of the production never straying, into what could have become pantomime. ‘On the Steps of the Palace’ was particularly well sung, my only criticism here was the restriction on sight lines from my seat due to the handrails of the set obscuring where the performer was seated. Stepsisters Florinda and Lucinda were well played by Aimee Sellars and Amy Griffiths who provided the audience with some very dark comedy during the trying of the glass slipper. Daisy Page played little Red Riding Hood, the switch from youth and innocence to adulthood and responsibility gave us the opportunity to see a good range of her performance skills.

There were some nice harmonies provided by the surviving four characters under the watch of Musical Director Izzy Cullis although on the evening that I watched other performers did struggle with the vocal ranges required for such a complex score.

It hasn’t been possible for me to mention everyone performer in this show but on the whole this was a very mature show for the company to put on and I thought that the whole ensemble was excellent with everyone on stage giving their best to perform to a high standard.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.