"Hansel & Gretel"

Neville Studios at Nottingham Playhouse.

Hansel and Gretel are lost in the enchanted forest with no breadcrumbs to follow home, thanks to a greedy duck. They stumble upon a cosy cottage made from delicious gingerbread and go inside… But this hideaway in the woods may not be as sweet as it seems as it's the home of the witch, who is currently not happy with a mouse who has the nibbles.

This is the perfect Christmas entertainment for children from three years old and upwards. There are woodland creatures to meet and they encounter the witch, who isn't happy that Gretel has been nibbling away at her gingerbread house, and changes Hansel into a gingerbread man biscuit! But does she turn out to be  a good witch or a bad witch? I know, but there's only one way for you to find out! 

As Hansel and Gretel are lost in the woods, they will need help to find their way back home, so there's plenty of opportunities for the audience to help with their plight. Throw in magic and music and you've got a lovely blend of entertainment for all ages.

Every performance will contain creative captioning, designed by Raphael Achache and operated by Ryan Kyte, to visually support the storytelling as well. the Video Programmer is Sam Osborne.

Hansel and Witchtastic is played by Megan Vaughan-Thomas and Gretel is played by Maya Thompson. Megan, I have not seen before as far as I can remember, but Megan I've had the pleasure of seeing several times, the last time in Spotlight Theatre's "A Chorus Line" about six years' ago. Both actors are well versed in the art of theatre. I know, as a former children's entertainer, that entertaining young children isn't easy, neither is keeping their attention. Both Maya and Megan manage to keep the kids focused and involved in the story by keeping them interactively involved.

This is a fine pairing as both have lovely voices, showcased in the few original, but catchy songs in the production, and by their story telling skills and puppetry handling. There's lots of eye contact with the children and plenty of encouraging interaction with them as they utilise the available performance area, as well as in the aisle between the seating.

This retake on the classic tale is written by Monika Johnson. A lovely simple reworking which cuts out a lot of the faff and injects some nice modern touches both in the tale and in the script, bringing the story up to date with nods to modern technology.

Directed by Beth Shouler. This show is definitely a pacy one, coming in at just fifty minutes straight through. I actually felt as if I was enjoying myself just a touch too much; a result of the fine art of story telling and mesmeric acting skills. I actually felt as if I was three or four years old again, and that surprised me because I didn't think my memory could go back that far!

The set design is by Samuel Fransch. This indeed held some magic, and I won't give too much away, but the trees turned into a house and the tree stumps became home to a frog and the floor turned into a jelly pond. It actually sounds like a scene from the film "Trainspotting" put like that!

The original music is written by David Gibb, who's also the Musical Director. Nice and catchy with simple enough lyrics for the youngsters to buy into and clap along with. 

The lighting design is by Laura Wolczyk, showing that simplicity in a lighting design is all you need to be effective in your aim.

The Puppetry Director is Matthew Forbes. I loved the duck puppet, as well as the squirrel puppet, oh and the frog as well. Created by the Nottingham Playhouse productions departments, they were easy to operate and realistic enough to drag adult eyes away from the operator and to the puppets themselves.

Produced by Amanda Bruce.

A magical show for the young theatre goers with sprinkles of glitter and sparkles, and just a little dusting of snow, this show is perfect for absolutely everyone.

"Hansel and Gretel" is at The Neville Studios at the Nottingham Playhouse until Sunday 31 December.