Pictured ( Clockwise) : Henry Wallder (Year 8) as Red Riding Hood with Conor Burke (Year 9) and Izer Onadim (Year 9) as wolves; The Robber Bridegroom ; James Atkinson (Year 9) as Gretel and Felix Gralton (Year 9) as the witch; Jasper Davies (Year 9) as the king with Harvey Byworth-Morgan (Year 9), Anthony Evans (Year 8) and Matthew Kavanagh (Year 8) as Rumpelstiltskin.
Founder’s Day 2014
Grimm Tales
Miss Maggie Jarman
T he weather might have been grim from time to time on the days leading up to Founder’s Day, but the same cannot be said of the zestful feast of folk tales that awaited the watcher in the Orchard gardens. These were the Grimm Tales as re-told by Phillip Pullman and interpreted by Anna Simpson. They were performed throughout with relish, every last hint of humour and nuance of nastiness squeezed from the script, each one set in its own niche, with its own genius loci. Not a word was wasted. The first of the cast encountered were the Grimms themselves, elegantly and eloquently embodied by Noah Cooper and Theo Podger, who served as narrators and guides between the five tales presented. They led us to the gate arch in the orchard wall where the tale of Rapunzel held us rapt. Finn Raben-Christensen made an innocent heroine with an unbelievably long plait that draped down the wall from her eerie. Fortunately, there was a hidden scaffolding tower to circumvent a Health and Safety horror: there was nightmare enough in the cacklingly cruel Witch. How could a Year 7 boy get so evil? Jack Probert managed it as adeptly as he leaped from the tower to the crash mat amongst the roses. Louis Rudnicki, Max Parfitt and Seb Connor supplied the spirited supporting cast, cowering and charming as appropriate. Through the wall and into the world of Rumpelstiltskin, where the ambitious Miller (George Mellis) artfully claimed his daughter had an unusual ability. Jasper Davies and Henry Hood as King and Servant respectively put the boast to the test; we all suffered with Josh McConnell as the fragile daughter facing the mountain of straw to spin into gold. A gasp ran through the audience as an evil personage sprang onto the scene: he clearly suffered from tri-polar disorder, for Rumpelstiltskin was represented by a trio of black-cloaked, strange little men. Chilling and captivating at the same time, the elfin and expressive Harvey Byworth- Morgan and the sinister, twirling Anthony Evans and Matthew Kavanagh set to work: here was another stunning use of the environment as the stable doors swung open to reveal the golden fruit of those nightly labours. Tensely,
the plot built towards the ultimate reward – her first-born child. They set us spinning with excitement as the moment of name revelation drew near: how would the three stamp themselves with rage into the cobbles? Answer: brilliantly! Promenade then to the summerhouse, the white setting for black intents, as the Mother (gentle Nifemi Olowo) sent her daughter, Henry Wallder’s sparklingly skippy Red Riding Hood, into the forest. And there came the highlight of the whole evening as the wolves, Conor Burke and Izer Onadim – what a pair! – droolingly cunning and leeringly oily, persuaded her to stray from the path. For me, the stand-alone memorable moment was provided when, having been rescued from her fate by the noble Woodcutter (Lucas Wilson), Red Riding Hood and her lace-capped Grandmother (Toby Mayhew) peeped round the verandah to rejoice as the wolves, now dressed in Grandma’s nightdresses, met their stone-choked end. Through the trees on the other side of the orchard was the tasty Gingerbread House that Hansel and Gretel (Henry Collins and James Atkinson) discovered as the Evil Wife, James Laurie, attempted to be rid of them. Titus Hopkins played the unsuspecting Woodcutter whilst Gabriel Rahman, George Duggan, and Malcolm Eisenhardt ably added forest atmosphere. The cottage confection was inhabited by such a subtly sinister witch (Felix Gralton) that one was almost sad to see her forced into her own oven. And so to the final play, presented entirely by Year 9s, adding appropriate gravitas to a more sophisticated story. The Robber Bridegroom was not for the squeamish: it spared us nothing. This lesser known Grimm Tale involves a maiden (disarmingly played by Kwaku Gyasi) who is promised by her father to a swaggeringly handsome man. The daughter is intrigued and accepts an invitation to her fiancé’s house. He is absent but she meets a strange old lady (Peter Bristow) who issues the direst of warnings. The two are trapped by the return of a band of reprobates led by the Bridegroom himself, Jack Ramsay, and from a concealed vantage point witness the destruction of an innocent young girl (Matthew Tyson). The gang (Gus Vaughan Williams, who doubles as the bride’s father,
and Gerard Emlyn-Jones, joined by Theo Podger and Noah Cooper) viciously force drink down the captive’s throat so that they can eat her pickled innards - only red ribbon, lest the reader fears cannibalism was rife. The bride-to-be escapes unseen, but not empty handed, for she has caught the finger of the girl as it was chopped off, and this becomes the fatal evidence at her wedding feast that condemns the villain: the groom cannot deny the dastardly deed. This ensemble group reveled in their gory story and the shudders that it sent through the audience. So, congratulations to Anna and to all of the actors for making the very most of her direction, adding their imaginations to her intentions to create such heady magic for a summer evening. The drizzle dampened no spirits and umbrellas added another dimension of colour to the rich spectrum of story telling.
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