Beasts & Beauties – Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
Writer: Carol Ann Duffy
Director: Mark Smith
Reviewer: Robin Winters
The Public Reviews Rating: 
Storytelling and the imagination are central to this successful and powerful alternative to pantomime, the second successful co-production between the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal and Liverpool’s Spike Theatre.
“Beasts & Beauties” by former poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy brings together a collection of eight fairy tales from across Europe in this neatly formed, two hour family friendly production. Whilst some of the stories may be familiar (Beauty & the Beast, The Emperor’s New Clothes) some of them are a little unfamiliar, obscure and at times quite dark like The Juniper Tree, a fairy tale that tells how a wicked stepmother kills her stepson, cooks him in a stew and makes the rest of the family eat him.
You won’t find any Disneyfied tinkering of the tales here, but what you will find is enchanting storytelling, the type that doesn’t patronise its target audience, but one that engages, interacts, and captivates throughout, helped of course by the poetic nature of Carol Ann Duffy’s prose.
In true ensemble fashion, the hard working cast of eight enthusiastic, energetic and hard working actors fill the intimate stage with a multitude of characters, from Cockney Geezer Weavers, to arthritic dogs and gold pooping goats; each cast member given their own story to really shine, Simon Hedger is gloriously camp and the gullible Emperor, Lee McPherson adorable as Toby the aging dog and a hoot as the North Wind, whilst Keddy Sutton shows her versatility by going from young child, to green and mean ogre with ease. Graham Geoffrey Hicks delights in his portrayal of the beast and Bekah Sloan proves every young girl’s favourite as Belle. Helen Moffitt, Hannah Plant and Samantha Moorhouse provide excellent support in a variety of supporting roles.
Director Mark Smith strikes a perfect balance of light and dark, allowing his cast enough room to play within the framework of the production, the choice of mask bring some of the characters vividly to life, whilst puppetry and mime prove the perfect vehicle for other stories in the cycle; Kevin Pollard’s set of rope and colourful cloth drapes suggest location as a stimuli for our own personal projections, highlighted by an atmospheric lighting design by Steve Parnaby. Creative support is also given in several original and highly entertaining musical numbers written by Matthew Wood – however if one could be picky, they may have been better served played live from within the cast than as a pre-recorded backing track and the piece could have included a few more numbers throughout.
Overall “Beasts and Beauties” proves a perfect pick for your hard earned pound by a young energetic cast that blend physical theatre, comedy, puppetry, mime and sincere storytelling, you would be seriously hard to find a more perfect Christmas show in Cumbria…With 2012 being the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth could there be a more inventive and imaginative company to bring one of his more festive stories to life…I can only hope and pray to the Ghosts of Christmas Yet to Come, in hope that this may come to fruition!
Runs until 31st December 2011
Tags: Beasts and Beauties, Bekah Sloan, Brewery Arts Centre, Carol Ann Duffy, Graham Geoffrey Hicks, Hannah Plant, Helen Moffat, Keddy Sutton, Kendal, Kevin Pollard, Lee McPherson, Mark Smith, Matthew Wood, Simon hedger Samantha Moorhouse, Spike Theatre, Steve Parnaby
4:44 pm on December 19th, 2011
This show was a joy to watch with wonderful costumes and enjoyable stories. The adults and children alike enjoyed the show. With both puppets and masks the stories were varied , I especially enjoyed the puppets and my grandson thought this was the best bit too. Well worth a visit to The brewery Arts for this show. Well done to all concerned.