Into the Woods – Regents Park Open Air Theatre
Book : James Lapine
Music/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Director: Timothy Sheader
Reviewer: Hugh Pearson
The Public Reviews Rating: 
Into the Woods – In the Woods!
Into the Woods has found an excellent home at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park. The set, despite its fairly recent installation, seems like a well-worn adventure playground; so deeply set into its surroundings it could almost always have been there. The cast is seems are cut from a similar cloth, emerging from the foliage as though stirring from a long sleep – the whole production has a distinctly organic feel captured expertly by Soutra Gilmour’s design. No better setting could there be for this production, envisaged by director Timothy Sheader as the wild imaginings of a young boy fleeing into the woods to escape the real world.
The decision to have a child drive the story has come from Sheader and has most obviously placed his own stamp on the production, and it is certainly brave choice. The interpretation stumbles slightly at the point where the character dies at the hands of the giant, but otherwise works extremely well. The entire piece is re-imagined as a coming of age tale not only for Sondheim’s protagonists, but also for this boy.
The ensemble cast are very strong; essential for a piece such as this where the action is fairly evenly distributed across the entire cast. Mark Hadfield and Jenna Russell, as the Baker and his Wife, take the “leads” in that the story is largely focused around their quest to lift the curse that has left them childless. They lead very well too, though neither really gets their chance to shine until the second act. In fact, it is Beverly Rudd’s Little Red Riding Hood that proves the highlight of the first half with a superbly crafted sequence at grandmother’s house alongside Valda Aviks as the aged matriarch, wielding her knife with manic glee. Simon Thomas and Michael Xavier delight as the two princes, with Xavier doubling up superbly as the hunky wolf – very much taking the “sub” out of subtext in his devouring of the young girl.
Hannah Waddingham cuts an impressive figure as the Witch, but her transformation at the culmination of Act 1 doesn’t quite get the “surprise reveal” effect it was going for. He voice more than makes up for it though, and she dominates the second half as her character starts to take control once the narrator has been dropped. Her desperate maternal instinct is neatly juxtaposed against that of her drunken adopted daughter (Alice Fearn).
To analyse each cast member’s performance would take far too long, but Judi Dench’s impressive tones are very well placed as the voice of the angry giant, and her appearance in the treetops is a delightful spectacle.
Tags: Alice Fearn, Beverley Rudd, Hannah Waddingham, James Lapine, Jenna Russell, Judi Dench, London, Mark Hadleigh, Michael Xavier, Regents Park, Simon Thomas, Soutra Gilmour, Stephen Sondheim, Timothy Sheader Open Air Theatre, Valda Aviks
