BATH Theatre Royal’s dedicated youth theatre space, the egg, is the ideal setting for Matt Harvey’s new version of the (very) Grimm fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin.

It might date back to the late 1400s, but, as this clever adaptation proves, its message is as relevant today as it has always been.

With new music by Thomas Hewitt Jones, the cast of four unfolds this story of ambition, boastfulness, arrogance, wickedness and love with huge gusto.

The miller (Stephen Leask) is a single parent after the death of Emily’s mother, and, while he would rather have had a son, he’s proud of his resourceful daughter.

 

Emily (Iris Roberts) has plans on a life outside the dusty old mill, and actually wants to change the world for the better.

The hopelessly out-of-touch king (Richard Lowe) is in deep financial difficulties, and when he thinks Emily can help, her own interests and needs are ignored.

And then there’s the Thing, all black and spiky and malevolent, with an agenda as dark as the dangerous forest in which he lives. He’s got all the answers … but the culmination of his plans depends on the selfishness of humankind.

 

 

And, this being a fairy story with a happy ending, he is doomed to be thwarted.

The title role is played with energetic malice by new BOVTS graduate Crystal Condie, in a show that weaves every member of the audience into its spell.

The show is recommended for children aged seven and older and their families, and it’s on at the egg until Sunday 4th January.

GP-W

 

Photographs by Nick Spratling