**** (4 stars)
“What a joy!”
When I first came to Edinburgh I worked at the Quaker Meeting House, which in August became venue 40, and to venue 40 came Andy Hunter with the Theatre of Widdershins’ The King’s Got Donkey’s Ears. It was a huge pleasure to sit, as the venue staff member, in his performances and each time admire the skill of his storytelling and marvel at the set and puppets, all of which he’d built, the clever script and the wonderful soundtrack. And each year, I’d look for the Widdershins Fringe offering, and make sure I saw it.
It’s been a goodly number of years since Widdershins last visited Edinburgh, and Andy now has new knees, but his skill hasn’t diminished one bit. Snow White, Rose Red and Bear Brown is full of witty wordplay, clever alliteration, many clever topical references, and jokes that are sometimes really funny and sometimes delightfully groanworthy. Andy’s rapport with the audience is as close as ever, and we gladly join in when needed with glugs, groans, and bird noises – and even beard-pulling on occasion!
The story begins with a large black bird, a nest with a large and shiny blue egg in it, and a very small person with a tall red hat and a long grey beard who steals the egg. We see the many creatures that inhabit the forest – butterflies, fairies, and even a dragon.
In a lovely little cottage in this magical forest lived a poor woodcutter, Edward. He and his wife Damson, who was a healer and herbalist, were very happy – but as time went by, they realised they were lacking the one thing that would complete their life – a baby. Damson was overjoyed when she realised she was pregnant. While walking through the winter’s snow one day, she came across a perfect white rose. In leaning down to sniff it, she scratched herself on a thorn and a single drop of blood fell on to the snow. Somehow, Damson knew she was carrying a daughter: she wished that the child might be as perfect as the rose, as pure as the snow, and have lips as red as blood.
All was going well, when one day Edward went out into the forest and didn’t come back. Damson gave birth in the spring to not one but two little girls – Snow White and Rose Red – and, with Edward still absent, set about raising the two lively, delightful girls by herself. One winter’s night when the girls were eight years old, there was a knocking at the door – a huge brown bear, cold and hungry, stood on the doorstep…
There is so much to see on stage that I wish I were back being one of the venue staff so I could see the show over and over again. The puppets are delightful, so characterful and so varied I’d have a hard time choosing my favourite – it’s not just the babies, who are a real handful, and the wonderfully kind, helpful and feisty girls they grow into: there are their parents, all the forest creatures, the bear, and of course the big black bird and the gnome who began our story.
The set is full of fascinating things – the fir trees that pop up, surrounding the clearing in which the family live, the swings in the trees on which the girls love to play, a wonderful picnic full of scrumptious-looking cakes, the Very Big Book of the Gnome, at whose superb illustrations I’d love to get another look, and, and, and…
The story is engrossing, there’s much for both children and adults to laugh at; there’s suspense and some fear; there’s a lecture about gnomes and the difference between them and dwarves [who are always found in sevens]; we learn a lot of words to describe the different degrees of grumpiness, the best word being crabbit; and there’s the wonderful musical soundtrack running through the narrative.
The audience loved it! The show is a delight for people of all ages, and Andy is only here till August 17th – so hurry and get a ticket before he disappears down to England and we have to wait another year for Theatre of Widdershins to appear in Edinburgh!
Snow White Rose Red Bear Brown, Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30) for more information go to: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/snow-white-rose-red-bear-brown
ScotsGay Arts 