I enjoy King Lear as much as the next critic, but I’m not sure the Gloucester-like blinding of Rapunzel’s handsome prince is quite right for the festive season. He loses his sight in the Grimm version, too, but that’s from an accident with a thorn bush, not from a brutal assault with scissors. In any case, the problem with Annie Siddons’ version of the story – first seen in a much-praised production by Kneehigh – is not the darkness itself, but the haphazard way it is handled.
Only minutes before attacking the prince, Wendy Seager’s Mother Gothel has been introduced to us as a kindly herbalist who has raised Jessica Hardwick’s foundling Rapunzel as her own. Quite why one lascivious remark from a neighbour should persuade this gentle soul to banish the girl into a tower is a mystery. So too is her subsequent transformation into a witch.
Indeed, Siddons leaves us guessing about almost all the facts. How does Rapunzel’s hair grow so long? What’s the deal about climbing up it? How does Rapunzel escape? What magic restores the prince’s sight? Perhaps you could put these gaps down to fairytale fantasy, but the script is equally patchy when it comes to psychology. Wouldn’t you be just a bit upset if your mother turned jailer overnight?
What’s missing – at least in a production with no interest in the grotesque – is a basic faith in the story. The subplots take up more space than the main narrative, there are several superfluous characters, and the tone alternates between serious Christmas show and half-hearted panto complete with age-inappropriate jokes about groin injury, Italian sausage and adultery.
It means the spirited performances in Lu Kemp’s good-looking production, with its impressive live soundtrack driven by drummer Cat Myers, carry next to no emotional weight.
- At the Citizens, Glasgow, until 3 January. Box office: 0141-429 0022.
