More Grimm Tales
by The Brothers Grimm adapted by Theatre Workshop Coulsdon

Reviewed by Peter Steptoe for The Croydon Advertiser

Theatre Workshop Coulsdon have provided the ideal outdoor summer entertainment for children with their second edition of Grimm’s fairy tales.

There are seven stories and while many are familiar others are not. Mike Brown and Heidi Bush are the directors who never let the pace flag and the stories have been adapted for the stage by them and Richard Lloyd.

We start off with Little Snow White and the dwarfs are puppets on strings with the voices provided by the puppeteers. My favourite is the one with the fag in his mouth and the Irish accent.

It isn’t pantomime either, for the men are men and the women are ladies. Philippa is a (good) looking glass and Tanya Allison is the wicked, question asking, Queen. “Mirror, mirror, etc.”

Snow White (Lucy Ann Martin) is a bit gullible, for the wicked Queen, disguised as the old woman, laden with poison and bad intentions visits the dwarf’s house three times. You would have thought that she would suspect: but then she is a nice girl.

The Spirit in the Bottle, is the evil genie which the son (Chris Blakeney) of the woodcutter releases and when attacked is astute enough to best. This version has a magic bandage, one end heals all wounds and the other turns anything into silver. What happened to gold?

The Devil and his Grandmother, relates to three soldiers who desert and escape by selling their souls to the Devil (Paul M Ford). They can only be released if they answer a riddle at the end of seven years. The Devil’s Grandmother (Lisa Lloyd) enables them to hear the answer, which didn’t make much sense to me but it didn’t seem to matter. Anyway, the children probably understood it.

Clever Hans, is my favourite, with Richard Lloyd superb as a thick-as-three-planks Hans and Kimberley Argles beguiling as Gretel. The children as dogs chasing after the bacon joint are delightful.

After the interval we have The Frog Prince, with a comic performance from Emma Rose as the frog. The green make-up is just right and her speech patterns sound just like one of the genus Rana.

The Robber Bridegroom is just the job to set the teeth chattering and the hair standing on end. Cannibalism, but tastefully done and the Miller, dignified Tim Young and his daughter Sarah Palmer, ensuring that it has a happy ending with the villains hanged.

The Musicians of Bremen is amusing, with the unwanted animals, Donkey (Paul M Ford), Dog (Mark Taylor), Cat (Chris Blakeney), and Cockerel (Paul Breden) getting the better of three robbers.

The final piece is Briar Rose, better known to us as Sleeping Beauty. The whole cast take part and when the princess is aroused with a kiss at the end, we could scarce forbade a cheer.