Upstaged rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Reviewer: Daniel Shipman
Emma Rice’s company Wise Children returns to HOME with their fresh and fiery take on the fairy tale of Blue Beard. As with the original story, the plot follows a young woman who is seduced by the titular Blue Beard, marries him, and leaves her family to live in his castle. Blue Beard leaves the castle and tells the woman – called Lucky – that she may do as she pleases in his castle, but that she must never use one key, to enter one particular room. She does, of course, and discovers a room full of the remains of his previous wives. Blue Beard returns, realises that Lucky has disobeyed him and attempts to murder her, but Lucky’s mother and sister arrive just in time to defend her and kill Blue Beard.
Rice’s version is narrated by a Mother Superior character (Katy Owen) at the order of the three Fs. (The three Fs are probably exactly what you expect them to be.) The Mother Superior relates the tale to a young male visitor, who in turn intersperses her story with his own. The young man tells of his older sister, a gigging musician and guiding presence in his life, who also falls victim to gender-based violence, but who does not have the fairy tale ‘happy’ ending of the main plot.
This subplot is touching throughout, and the ending is gut-wrenchingly awful, but despite the tears it may elicit, it does feel slightly crow-barred in to make the contemporary relevance of the classic tale absolutely explicit. The production may have benefitted from a slightly softer touch, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions.
The performances are uniformly strong, but I particularly enjoyed Katy Owen’s foul-mouthed narrator nun – I’d quite like that character to follow me around and pass comment on my choices in real life I think.
The songs themselves are excellent too. I saw plenty of tapping toes around me, and I’d have gladly parted with a tenner or so to buy a soundtrack album.
The musicianship of the cast as a whole is to be applauded – you could be forgiven for forgetting that you’re not watching a high-budget musical, or listening to a pre-recorded backing track at times, such is the quality of the music. The songs themselves are excellent too. I saw plenty of tapping toes around me, and I’d have gladly parted with a tenner or so to buy a soundtrack album, which is a rarity for plays-with-songs. There wasn’t a moment I didn’t feel entertained by Blue Beard. The cast are hugely talented and, as you’d expect from a Wise Children production, there is plenty to keep you enthralled. However, the end does feel as though it is pointing out the obvious to some extent: gender-based violence is still prevalent, it ruins lives, and it is heartbreaking. I suspect very few people who end up in a metropolitan theatre audience need a play to tell them that.
– Daniel Shipman
Blue Beard runs at HOME Manchester until Saturday 24 February 2024.