★★★★
Some Kind of Theatre’s evergreen production is an inventive four-hander which explores women’s roles in the creation of the Brothers Grimm’s famous book of fairy tales.
Located in the intimate space at Paradise in the Vault, the company made clever use of minimal set and props to bring to life everything from a beheading to crying children to pigs trotters!
The show opened with an atmospheric use of voice throwing which paved the way for each actor taking on various different characters throughout. The performances were strong across the board with great physicality and energy.
As the Brothers collect various folk stories from local women, we start to see a more sinister undercurrent to their actions. The narrative subtly questions how women are represented in the stories themselves (often blamed and shamed by their fairytale princes) and how they are also ignored and erased in their everyday lives.
“Pretty, polite, young girls must not catch the eyes of wolves.”
It would have been nice to spend a bit more time with the Brothers themselves who are composing tales with their guest, Marie, and their housekeeper (who is left deliberately nameless right until the end, in a clever touch). A little more depth to their individual backstories would have rounded everything off.
A must see for any fan of fairytales. The Grandmothers Grimm highlights the missing voices from history that have so often been drowned out or overwritten by men.
The Grandmothers Grimm is on at Paradise in the Vault till August 19th
Review by Laura Crow
