THEATRE REVIEW: Into the Woods brings Sondheim’s dark, unhinged fairy tales to Cape Town
By all accounts, Into the Woods is a monster of a musical. First performed in 1986 and made into a movie in 2014, it’s now playing in Cape Town’s Theatre on the Bay. Directed by Sylvaine Strike and featuring a cast of 25 students, it’s a stark raving lunatic asylum of a show.
An intriguing new production of Into the Woods has opened in Cape Town's Theatre on the Bay, directed by Sylvaine Strike and featuring a cast of 25 students from the Lamta musical theatre academy. The show, a madcap Sondheim-scored reimagining of various intertwined fairy tales, brings the dark, unhinged world of the Brothers Grimm to life.
With a giant stomping on villagers, a wolf devouring a rambunctious Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack ascending a beanstalk, the production delivers an ominously dark and perilous experience.
The set is dominated by trees, but these are not mere props - they are actors holding blackened planks, bringing the woods to life and making it twitter and breathe. Interactive and full of personality, the woods are a captivating stage for the various fairy tale characters who populate the show. Cinderella, Little Red, Jack, and Rapunzel are among the characters whose stories are given a fresh update, alongside numerous other familiar faces and intriguing new characters.
Into the Woods updates the classic fairy tales with psychological truth-bombs and heart, dealing with human-scale problems that have fairy-tale-sized consequences. The Baker and his wife's inability to conceive forms a central theme throughout the show, adding emotional depth to the narrative. The production features pitch-black ironies, winking innuendo, and actors allowed to let their most playful instincts run wild.
The result is a magnificently deranged show with a lot going on, not all of which is explicitly explained, making the unspoken details and relentless theatricality a key part of the magic.
Strong performances from the young actors, particularly Mia Dippenaar as the Baker's Wife, Benjamin Stannard and Matt Blerk as the Baker and Prince, and Jude Bunyan as the Wolf, add to the show's appeal. Kristin Murison's portrayal of Little Red Riding Hood, presented as a precocious tomboy, also stands out. Even fleeting characters and cameo appearances, such as those by Ashlee Austin, Jaimee Coxwell, and Jude Bunyan as the Hen, prove to be scene-stealers. The Narrator, played by Pride Ncube, commandingly guides the story from stage to stage.
Overall, Into the Woods is a musical that matters, with satisfying key performances and no small parts. Even the most fleeting vignettes prove to be memorable, and the show's emotional depth and heart make it a compelling and meaningful experience for audiences.
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