Last night I went to see Rapunzel: A Hairy Tale at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol.
I’ll be honest, when it started, I was NOT impressed. The circle of elevated stage in the middle was roughly the same size as our kitchen island (bearing in mind we don’t have a particularly big kitchen island). [EDIT: My parents think I'm underestimating the size of the stage, but it did seem small.]
The seating was slightly tiered, and on the stage was a small side-board looking think with some weird machines on top, one of which was a record player. After another 5 to 10 minutes of waiting the lights went out and it began.
The first bit really caught me by surprise. A man, dressed entirely in black came onto the stage and picked up a record from the little table thing. He then took it out of its case and we heard it happen. Then he blew the dust off of it, before turning it over, slotting it into the machine and playing it. The crazy bit was that the entire time we had been hearing sound effects of what was happening. However, I realised that it wasn’t sound effects. There was someone to my left standing with a mic making all of the noises with their mouth. Like, HOW? It was REALLY impressive. Then some weird stuff happened which didn’t really make sense at the time, before we got to see the evil “mother” snatch baby Rapunzel and run off with her. However, it was in this scene that I realised for the first time that they had changed the story. Because Rapunzel wasn’t the Queen’s daughter here, but the Queen’s niece. Rapunzel’s mum had died of an illness.
In the next scene we saw the older Rapunzel for the first time. We saw her “mother” tell her not to ever leave the castle… etc… Anyway, the story went on, and it wasn’t what I had expected. It was a play on the traditional story, with a twist that none of us saw coming. The entire production was acted by the same 5 people (there had been a cast illness though, so i don’t know what it was originally intended to be like). There were scenes when the same woman was playing three different bearded men, and she would run off and come on with a different beard every few seconds. It was hilarious. The story was really well written, with funny dialogue and scenes.
My favourite thing though, was the songs. They didn’t have big speakers, it wasn’t music being played like that. Instead, they had loads of microphones set up around the stage and REALLY talented people. Because these 5 people, as well as acting and making sound effects with their mouths, were playing all kinds of instruments. They had 4 different guitars, a keyboard, a banjo (I think), a harmonica, a saxophone, a cello and a foot drum. The songs were (once again) very well written, with original music to go along with them. The characters were playing guitars and saxophones and harmonicas while jumping around the stage… It was great.
Also, although they didn’t have much space, they made use of it really well. With clever lighting and actors they really made it possible to see how someone was climbing the tower, despite them not moving up at all.
Overall, while it seemed tiny at first, I think it was a very good production, with a VERY talented cast, good songs, amazing quick complete costume changes, great use of space and a really well written story.
Please note: the photo used for this review is from unsplash and is not a photo from the production being discussed.
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