Marie-Lou Review

Yesterday's show was different to anything that I've seen in our theatre before, but not any less interesting because of it. We have a guest review coming in a couple of days, but in the mean time, I thought it only polite to leave you with a few of my thoughts.

Better Red Than Dead: the evening started with the tantilising tale of Little Red Riding Hood and her flirtacious relationship with a highly charged wolf. Although the opening scene with the mother left me a little bemused, once Red had entered the forest I was easily swallowed in to the well known fairytale. The performance used little or no props and the 'set' was created purely by lighting and music which was executed to perfection. I really liked the use of the soundtrack as the backdrop to the physical theatre, as the actors movements told the story - there was almost no need for any dialogue at all... except of course then you wouldn't have had the lines:

Red: I will not sleep with with him on the first date, or I will be left alone and very afraid.
Wolf: I will not eat her on the first date, or I will be left alone and very afraid.

You could almost smell the testosterone of the wolf once he pranced on stage. The 'courting' followed by the very dramatic flirting built up nicely with the choice of music, and the wolf's slow motion plunge for the neck sent a chill down my spine. Although, as I've said, the piece worked really well on our stage, you could imagine the whole story working on a larger scale with huge dramatic sets and costumes. I'm glad we got to see it as it was last night. It was a real treat to experience an unsual and high class performance.

[Update: review from audience member here.]