'Into The Woods' at the Landor Theatre

On Friday night Chris and Angela continued my Sondheim education with a trip to the teeny Landor Theatre in Clapham to see its production of 'Into The Woods'. The Landor Theatre is, essentially, the upstairs function room of the Landor Pub and rather small and bijoux, with maybe space for 60 in the audience. I've been there twice before, to see productions of 'Follies' and 'Assassins' and this was very similar in production values and heart. The set was a shelf of giants books of fairytales, some books moved and others were clambered over and under.

The story is made up of interwoven fairytales, giving an alternative take on the basic stories and then, in the second act, follows them through beyond the ending we're familiar with. I'm not entirely sure what this is meant to represent - if anything - but I just enjoyed the little twists and turns, enjoying the rather psychotic Little Red Riding Hood, the witch that just happens to live next door and the reluctant Cinderella who people think is a bit wierd for talking to birds. Needless to say, there's no happy ending when the Giant's wife comes to earth looking for revenge but, hey, that's life.

The production was a bit of a mixed bag. I liked the two pixies who shifted the books and helped with the props but they must've been bored rigid being on stage (or rather, on top of the piles of books) the whole time with no lines. The costumes were very hit and miss, with Little Red Riding Hood's red cape looking like it was top quality nylon and bought from a joke shop, but that's me being nit-picky. I enjoyed it and, in particular liked Orla Mullan as the Witch (who seems to have stepped in at the last minute for the real witch, so very well done to her), Sarah Head as the Baker's Wife and Rebecca Wikking as Little Red Riding Hood.

The production is on for another couple of weeks so there's still a chance to se it.