Dance

Wee Hansel & Gretel

Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Mary Brennan

three stars

The title may say Wee Hansel & Gretel, but there’s nothing teeny-tiny about the intentions behind Scottish Ballet’s latest venture. In 2013, when the company premiered Christopher Hampson’s vividly imagined Hansel and Gretel, the full-length ballet felt a bit of stretch for young audiences.

The result was an astutely cut-back version – aimed at the 3-8 years old age range – that toured in parallel with the ‘grown-up’ ballet, using the same sets and company dancers.

When that tour ended, Wee H&G got packed away but now Hampson and his creative team are wondering if it could be revived as a stand-alone, short work, suited to mid-scale and community venues as well as bigger stages like Glasgow’s Theatre Royal where it had a trial run last week.

There have been expedient adjustments. The action now focusses on what happens inside the Witch’s cottage once Hansel (Constant Vigier) and Gretel (Kayla-Maree Tarantolo) arrive and succumb to the lure of gooey cakes. Beforehand, however, young audiences have been brought up to speed by friendly narrators Bethany Kingsley-Garner and Thomas Edwards (both Scottish Ballet dancers) who introduce the main characters and initiate some fun audience participation.

When Humperdinck’s music then plays in, we’re ready for the Witch (Madeline Squire) to galumph into gear, comically grotesque but still scary – yikes! Hansel’s teddy actually gets beheaded. Vigier and Tarantolo are totally convincing as the unwary siblings, beguiled by hospitality that magics up Sweet Treats (pink tutu’d ballerinas on pointe), leaping and tumbling Rag Dolls and a dazzlingly agile Chef (Louis Fukuhara) – these roles are all danced by students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Gary Harris’s (slightly reworked) designs have lost none of their delicious details, the choreography remains true to Hampson’s original and the performances are all spot-on – a few tweaks to the scripted intro, and young audiences will have a colourful ballet, specially staged for them.