While growing up, I was captivated by subversive stories in a classical cartoon segment known as Fractured Fairy Tales. That aired as part of the TV series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. It turned familiar yarns about the likes of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and many others on their head.
All these years later, one of my all-time favourite theatre companies, Shake & Stir, has done the same, now featuring real flesh and blood. Four fine actors (Aljin Abella, Helen Cassidy, Henry Rollo and Melissa Kahraman) play up the dark tales. They fill multiple roles with aplomb, adding heat, drama and mirth, breathing life anew into fairy stories in the adult show GRIMM. Why? Because, let’s face it, fair maidens and ogres didn’t exactly do well in traditional iterations, so now is their time to get their own back.
That conveniently brings me back to the origin of fairy tales. The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers and authors. It was the 19th century when they worked with European folklore. They were the pair that popularised stories such as Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel and more, several of which feature in GRIMM.
We don’t quite get to the 200 plus stories that the Grimm brothers wove, many foreboding, but still there are a decent number in play here. Think of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and others I have already referenced. One tale morphs into the next and then the next, in a fast paced, outrageous, humorous show, replete with music, song, dance, storytelling, poetry and puppetry.
There are surprises aplenty in how the tales are realised. That involves cleverly written lines (the adaption is by Nelle Lee and Daniel Evans, the latter of whom also directs the work). Complete with popular, up-tempo music, we have some shattering sound effects, sometimes loud, with Guy Webster the creative composer and sound designer.
There are rich lighting effects, courtesy of lighting designer Trent Suidgeest, and momentary, deliberate blackouts. Inventive staging, with nooks and crannies everywhere, plus a piano on the tilt is the brainchild of set designer Josh McIntosh. The costuming by Paul McCann is evocative and illustrative, while the movements have been carefully choreographed by Dan Venz.
Put simply, Shake & Stir has thrown the veritable kitchen sink at this one and it lands. The constant twists and turns keep us, the audience, on our toes. Power shifts between the characters. Here is your starting point: The action is set in The Witch’s Tit. Given what takes place, I see it as a portal to debauchery and bad behaviour . In a pit to one side lies hundreds of rich, red apples. And the bewitching hour remains midnight.
Little Red Riding Hood is heading deep into the forest to share bread and gin with her grandmother. The Beast is on the trail of a virgin heart. Cinderella is destined for the ball having agreed to give up her first born. Each gets waylaid in different ways.
The cast begins by setting out a veritable cornucopia of fairy tale rules and ends with the take aways (the jewels, as they are called). The script is peppered with more than the odd reference to the ballads’ German origins. There is so much to savour in Shake & Stir’s bold and bawdy celebration of folk tales with a decided bent. So, open your minds, dare to imagine and get ready to have some fun.
Seventy-five minutes in duration, GRIMM is at QPAC in Brisbane, at the start of a five-month national tour. Check out the full schedule and buy tickets at https://shakeandstir.com.au/mainstage/grimm#touring-dates
Alex First
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- GRIMM (Shake & Stir Theatre) – theatre review
- The Great Gatsby, at QPAC Playhouse – theatre review
- Fourteen (shake & stir) – theatre review
Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.
