Review: Blue Beard
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ramshackle and radical, forthright and angry, Emma Rice's retelling of Blue Beard, based loosely on the French folk tale in which a wealthy wife murderer finally meets his match, is a darkly surreal and often absurd piece of storytelling that, in its staging, harks back to the makeshift days of travelling players of yore and does indeed prove more than a little intoxicating, as promised in its publicity.
Produced by Rice’s Wise Children Theatre Company in collaboration with Birmingham Rep, HOME Manchester, York Theatre Royal and the Lyceum, this Blue Beard is almost a play within a play, a bustling feminist fairytale laced with catchy songs delivered by an eight strong cast of talented actor/musicians. It's also a clever exploration of consent, curiosity, violence against women and grief.
When the Lost Brother stumbles upon the Convent of the Three Fs, the Mother Superior and her sisters prove less than sympathetic. He is in search of his Lost Sister and soon the pair are swapping stories as the Mother Superior regails him with the circumstances that led to her having blue whiskers on her chin... and so unfolds a strangely timeless take on the centuries old tale, one that is fierce in its female focus, often bizarre, lined with rage yet always managing to retain a degree of tenderness and remain bitingly funny. It's a complex juggling act.
Played out on Vicki Mortimer's functional staging, which consists of just three wardrobes, a 'coffin', a magician's cabinet and cleverly rigged cloths for scene changes, the production rattles along as the jigsaw pieces fall into place, although it does lose momentum towards the end of the first act and later, has to shoehorn in the tenets and twists of the denouement into a final scene that, while brutally stark, is clumsily executed.
Narrating the piece, Katy Owen's over the top Mother Superior seldom rests, flitting in and around the action like a moth to a flame, while Lost Brother, a childlike Adam Mirsky, provides her with a gentle foil.
Of the supporting company, Robyn Sinclair's Lucky proves a feisty match for Tristan Sturrock's sinisterly charming Blue Beard who, in this production is a suave fairground magician, astonishing his audiences and winning their hearts. When Lucky is smitten, not even the pleadings of her mother, Treasure, and sister, Trouble, can persuade her away from her intended. Patrycja Kujawska brings a commanding stillness Treasure.
If composer Stu Barker's turn as Sister Susie of the Dulcimer is striking, so too his score is quite inspired, from beautiful Baroque-style madrigals to numbers straight out of a smokey jazz joint and the odd offering of hard rock, his musical numbers raise the story-telling to another level and allow an impressive Mirabelle Gremaud, as the Lost Sister, to bring the first act to a close in rocking style.
A captivating and thought-provoking two hours then, Rice's choices in returning this tale to the stage are brave, even if they don't always land, but with a cast as invested as this one, that hardly seems to matter. However, if you want an example of just how surreal things get, you'll need to make a date with Blue Beard to discover how a 'signed picture of Claire from Steps' and an 'XXL stab vest' fit into this exciting and inventive piece of theatre.
Until 30 March. Tickets here